BITE
by bananannabeth
Summary: What should have been a simple scouting quest leads to Frank and Hazel being kidnapped by an unknown enemy, and Percy and Annabeth head to Beacon Hills to rescue them. Things go a little awry when some locals take more of interest in them than they'd like, and it soon becomes apparent that Frank isn't the only shapeshifter in town.
1. Percy

**i'm thinking this is set post-HoO, post-ToA and post-MCGA for percy and co., and in between season 3a and 3b for the pack. because that's not confusing at all.**

* * *

Percy froze with a mouthful of fries, green eyes going comically wide as he finally gave the Iris Message his full attention. "What?" he asked, the word muffled by the absurd amount of potato he'd been inhaling before speaking.

Annabeth spared him the briefest of eye rolls before looking back to the image of Reyna, who was sitting behind her impressive desk with a straight spine and steely expression.

"I need you to check it out," the Praetor said.

"Why us?" Annabeth asked. The question was loaded, but she kept her tone remarkably even.

"Yeah, why us?" Percy chimed in, having finally finished his fries. "You said the weird shit is happening in California, right? That's _your_ jurisdiction, we've got enough going on here on the East Coast, thanks."

Egyptian deities right there in New York, whatever the Helheim was happening with Annabeth's cousin up in Boston… Yeah, their schedules were quite full without having to venture across the country, thanks. Percy munched on a fry vindictively, wondering why nothing could just stay peaceful for longer than a few days.

Reyna's composure finally broke, and she lifted a hand to rub her temple. "You weren't my first choice, to be honest, but I'm afraid there's no one else I can send."

Percy scoffed. "You have legions - _literal legions_ \- of demigods at your disposal, and yet you're saying you need us-"

"They've got Frank and Hazel."

Percy and Annabeth froze. Percy's mouth went dry. Underneath the table, Annabeth's hand found his and squeezed. She kept her gaze locked on Reyna, who was no longer trying to hide her desperation. "What do you mean?"

Reyna sighed. Now that he was properly looking, Percy could see the bags beneath her eyes. "We've been noticing some strange occurrences for a while now -"

"What kind of strange occurrences?" Percy cut her off.

She didn't look too impressed by that. "People disappearing, strange murders, animals acting up, that sort of thing. If you'd been listening the first time instead of trying to inhale an entire side of fries, you'd know that." Percy scrunched his face up, but didn't speak. She continued, "But we've been a little preoccupied with rebuilding and fortifying relationships…"

"This isn't your fault, Reyna," Annabeth said. She glanced over at Percy, who nodded. "Just… tell us what happened to them."

"So there was a report of a rapid spike in animal attacks, just last week. It was decided that we couldn't leave it any longer. What if it was a colony of monsters, banding together to strike us when we were weak from the war? We couldn't risk that. We decided to send a small party to scout it out." Her voice wavered, and Percy gripped Annabeth's knee. "Frank volunteered to lead. Hazel of course volunteered to go with him. They set out on Monday, with a daughter of Apollo. Thursday night, she arrived back at the border, bloodied and beaten and screaming about how they'd taken Frank and Hazel had refused to leave him."

Percy's jaw clenched. When he spoke, it was through gritted teeth. "Where are they?"

"All we know is the name of the town. I'd go myself, but I can't leave Camp without a Praetor, not again -"

"Reyna," he said, almost a growl. "Where. Are. They."

She grabbed a map off the desk and held it up to face them. She pointed to a small town, the name of which Percy couldn't quite make out. It was circled in bright red marker, with a line marking the path the demigods had taken to it from Camp Jupiter.

Reyna's voice was like steel when she said, "Beacon Hills."


	2. Scott

This is suspicious," Stiles declared, dropping his lunch tray onto the table and almost throwing himself into the chair opposite Scott. He picked up a handful of curly fries and attempted to eat them all at once, glaring at something over Scott's right shoulder as he did so.

"What's suspicious, your ability to inhale curly fries and not choke to death?" Lydia quipped, tucking her elbows in by her sides and leaning slightly away from him.

"Oh, haha." Stiles pulled a face at her. He swallowed the mouthful of fries and pointed behind Scott. "No, _them._ The new kids."

Lydia looked unconvinced. "Have you even spoken to them?"

"Not yet, but I'm bound to have a class with them before the end of the day."

Scott craned his neck to look at where the transfer students sat, across the other side of the cafeteria. They looked pretty standard - extremely attractive, yeah, but there were plenty of good looking people at Beacon Hills High School who had nothing to do with the supernatural. They were both wearing jeans, the boy in a blue hoodie and the girl in a tight grey t-shirt, and they seemed to be chatting amicably to Danny and a few other guys from the Lacrosse team.

Scott spun back around and shot Stiles a skeptical look. "They seem normal to me."

Stiles planted his elbow on the table and leaned forward, lowering the volume of his voice but increasing the emphasis. "Look, okay, just hear me out. When was the last time someone new showed up at this school - or in this _town,_ even - and _wasn't_ a hunter or a werewolf or a homicidal maniac or something equally terrifying, huh?"

Scott shook his head but didn't say anything, because he sort of had a point, there.

Stiles looked triumphant. "Yeah, see! And, _and,_ I overheard them talking in the hall, and the guy said something about not getting kicked out of his eighth school. What does that mean? Has he been kicked out of _seven schools_ already?"

Allison frowned. "Maybe you misheard."

"Nope, nuh, I definitely heard those words, he said, ' _Let's hope I don't get kicked out of my eighth school_.' And the girl just laughed! That's not normal. What the hell could you do to get expelled from seven different schools?" Stiles leaned back in his chair and nodded in their direction. "And look at them, they won't stop fidgeting. It's like they're nervous about something."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Stiles."

"Yeah?"

She pointed to his hand, which was drumming on the table top, and then looked pointedly to his tapping foot. He immediately stilled both, scowling.

"Maybe they have ADHD, too," Allison offered.

"Or, maybe it's their first day at a new school and they just don't feel comfortable being stared at." Scott tilted his head to the side, preventing Stiles from glaring across the cafeteria at them.

His best friend huffed and went back to his lunch. "Okay, fine. Don't believe me. But when they turn out to be something new that want to kill us, I am definitely going to say 'I told you so'."

* * *

The new kids were in Biology with Stiles and Scott. They smiled at Danny as they walked in and took two empty seats towards the back, and Stiles glared at them the entire way.

"Dude." Scott nudged him in the side. "Would you chill?"

Stiles chewed on the end of his pen with more force than usual but turned to face the front without further complaint.

The problem was, Stiles was generally pretty good with this sort of thing. He was really the brains of the pack, along with Lydia, and Scott had never had any reason to mistrust his opinion before.

So, feeling just a little bit bad about it, Scott waited until the teacher had settled in to a lecture about the new unit before he started listening in to the transfer students' conversation.

"I'm definitely going to fail," the guy was saying, tapping his pen against the textbook they had open between them.

"Not if you pay attention in class," the girl countered in a tone that was eerily reminiscent of Lydia.

"Yeah, we both know that's not going to happen."

"Are you listening in on their conversation?" Stiles whispered, leaning over so far his cheek was practically on Scott's shoulder. "What are they saying?"

"Shh!" Scott glared at him and tuned back in just as the girl laughed quietly.

"Seriously, Percy, you'll be fine. Look, this unit is on genetic abnormalities. Practically made for us."

The guy - Percy - groaned. "It already hurts my head thinking about that type of stuff, and I don't think this high school science class is going to be particularly enlightening on the topic. Besides…" He lowered his voice even further, but Scott's hearing was too good. "Don't you think this is a bit of a waste of time? I feel like we should be out there, looking -"

"And where do you suggest we start?" she hissed back.

Scott risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that they both had their eyes trained on the chalkboard. The girl was copying down notes, but Percy was just blankly following the teacher's hand, eyes unfocused. He was holding a pen, but he was just twirling it between his fingers. He hadn't even taken the cap off.

"I don't know, Annabeth, but I'm not getting anything from anyone at the school, so…"

Annabeth suddenly straightened, and her eyes snapped right to Scott.

He quickly spun around in his seat, but he could feel her eyes boring into the back of his head. Both she and Percy had gone absolutely silent.

"What?" Stiles asked. "What is it?"

"I think she caught me," Scott muttered.

Stiles scoffed and turned around to check. "What, how could she have - Oh, she definitely caught you." He sunk down in his seat, far lower than could have been comfortable.

Scott turned his head at the slightest angle possible to see them in his periphery. They'd both gone back to looking at the board, but their relaxed posture was gone. They looked ready to run.

He kept an ear out for the rest of the class, but neither of them said a word, apart from when the teacher called on Annabeth to answer a question and she did so without even a second's hesitation or a glance at the textbook.

When the bell rang, they quickly and quietly packed up their stuff and made for the door. Scott waited until Percy was just about to walk past his station before stepping out into the aisle, bumping straight into him.

Something strange happened then - Scott was overwhelmed by the scent of the ocean. It was like someone had just dumped him in a wave. His instincts flared, every nerve standing on end, and he felt like he was under attack. His heart rate picked up, and he could feel his body straining to shift.

Percy barely even stumbled, and he didn't drop his pen, but Annabeth grabbed his arm.

"Sorry, man," he said, sounding genuine. "Are you okay?"

"All good," Scott said, keeping his head bowed and trying to bring his breathing back under control.

Percy hesitated. Scott could hear his heartbeat increase and wondered if he was scared. "Are you sure? You don't look so good."

"He's fine," Stiles said brightly, clapping a hand on Scott's shoulder. "Low blood pressure, makes him light headed. Just needs some sugar and he'll be right."

"Okay… Hope you're all right. Sorry again." Percy shouldered his bag and kept walking, Annabeth close behind.

As soon as they were out of the room, Stiles ducked his head right down to look into Scott's face. "Dude, your eyes!"

"I know," Scott growled. "Give me a minute."

"Do we have a minute?" Stiles hissed. The door swung open and the next class began filing in. "Nope, we don't have a minute. Come on, buddy!"

Head bowed under Stiles's arm, Scott let himself be led to the locker rooms, feeling very much like he should have listened to Stiles from the start, because there was definitely something weird going on with the new kids.

* * *

Lydia and Allison didn't even jump when Stiles and Scott ran up to their lockers at the end of the day. They continued calmly storing their books away as Stiles skidded right into the lockers, sending them rattling, and Scott stopped right behind him.

"I'm already on it," Lydia said before either of them had a chance to speak.

Stiles gaped at her. "On what? What are you - How could you know what we were going to say?"

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and closed her locker door. "Because I just had English with them, and I have a feeling that they're hiding something."

Allison nodded, resting her back against her closed locker door. "Definitely."

"Good," Scott said, glancing around to make sure the new kids weren't within ear shot.

"Oh!" Stiles threw his hands up in the air. "Oh, so we listen to Lydia's feeling, but ignore Stiles's? That's nice, guys, real nice."

Scott gestured for him to be quiet. "Lydia's not the only one with a feeling."

"No, _I_ have a feeling, too," Stiles insisted, still not over it. "Remember, at lunch, I said -"

Now was not the time for one of Stiles's rants.

Scott cut him off. "I bumped into Percy just before, and I feltsomething."

Lydia tilted her head to the side. "Like what?"

"Like a… a challenge. It almost triggered a change." Scott searched for the words to explain what it had felt like, but this was a new experience, and he found himself at a bit of a loss.

"Yeah, with the red eyes and everything," Stiles added helpfully.

Lydia pursed her lips, looking even more intrigued.

"You just bumped into this guy and it triggered a change? He didn't attack you or anything?" Allison asked.

Scott shook his head. "He even sounded genuine when he said sorry."

"Strange," Lydia mused, staring at a point in the distance. When she straightened, the rest of them turned to see what had caught her attention.

Percy and Annabeth were standing at a locker down the other end of the hall, heads bowed close together as Annabeth pulled some books into her backpack.

"Right. Time to befriend the new kids. Again." Lydia smoothed out her skirt and arranged her features into her most charming smile.

They watched her saunter down the hallway, heels clicking against the floor and skirt swishing around her thighs.

"What is she going to do?" Scott asked.

"Exactly what she said," Allison explained. "She's going to become their friend."

"She wants to be friends with the weird new kids who are obviously somehow involved with the supernatural, judging by Scott's reaction to just _touching_ one of them? She wants to spend _more_ time with them?" Stiles asked incredulously. "Yeah, great plan."

Allison raised an eyebrow. "Worked with me, didn't it? And Isaac, and Ethan and Aiden, and -"

"You've made your point," Stiles snapped.

Allison flashed a smirk at Scott, like they were sharing some sort of inside joke, and his heart skipped a beat. In the distance, Lydia laughed at something Percy said, and Stiles's scowl deepened.

* * *

 **a.n. this fic was published on my tumblr (bananannabeth) well before now, so if you want regular updates i recommend following it over there**


	3. Percy II

**thank you so much to everyone for the overwhelming reception this fic is getting! i really appreciate your support and enthusiasm (✿◠‿◠)**

 **as always, this was posted on my tumblr (bananannabeth) before here, follow there for more prompt updates**

 **and unfortunately uni is about to get absolutely hectic, so the next update is probably going to be a few weeks away. but as soon as all of my exams are done this fic is going to consume most of my time, because seriously with the release of that trailer how can i concentrate on anything except for teen wolf?**

* * *

"This is a mistake," Percy said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel of their rental car. "It's a trap."

They were parked on the street out the front of Lydia Martin's house, behind a blue, beaten up Jeep that they now knew belonged to Stiles. Lydia had invited them over for a study date after school; "To make sure you're up to date with the syllabus," she'd said with a winning smile.

Annabeth had agreed before Percy could protest, and they'd quietly squabbled about it the entire drive here, speaking in riddles because Stiles and Scott had been trailing behind them and they weren't sure if they were listening in. When they'd pulled up, Stiles had flashed them a knowing look before stomping up the drive to where Lydia waited at the front door. Scott had looked apologetic, lingering and waiting to walk up with them, but Annabeth had made up a lie about having to check in with their parents and told him to go ahead, they'd be right there.

With the Beacon Hills High School students all safely inside Lydia's house, Percy and Annabeth remained sitting on the street, debating what they were doing.

Annabeth chewed her bottom lip. "I don't think it's a trap."

"They're obviously on to us."

"And we're on to them, so we're even."

He laughed in spite of himself. "I don't think it works like that."

She raised an eyebrow. "Who's the strategist in this car?"

"Point taken, oh daughter of wisdom," he said with a fair amount of sass. " _However,_ I don't think we can trust them."

"We don't need to trust them, we just need to get closer to them so we can find out what they know about Hazel and Frank." Annabeth pulled her notebook from her bag and flipped it open to the page she'd been writing on in Biology. Percy leaned over the centre console to read the Ancient Greek as she pointed to each clue she'd taken note of. "Look, we know that Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski have been at the scene of enough crimes in this town to be more than coincidence. We know that Stiles's dad is the Sheriff, so if they needed to cover something up they'd have a slightly easier time of it than most."

"What are you saying, Stilinski became Sheriff in order to hide the evidence of his son's crimes?"

"I'm saying it's a possibility, not a fact. Or maybe he became Sheriff and then Stiles started taking advantage of the fact. I don't know." Annabeth frowned and tapped the next point. "But I _do_ know that Scott was listening in on us today in Biology."

"Yeah." Percy glowered at the Jeep in front of him. "Although I still don't get _how_ he was listening in."

"Supernatural hearing abilities?" she suggested.

"Like… monstrous hearing abilities?"

"Most monsters use smell to track us down, not sound."

"Yeah, but -" Percy stopped mid sentence. "If he was listening to us then, who's to say he's not listening to us now?"

Annabeth cast a wary glance up towards Lydia's house, which, to Percy, looked a little bit more like a mansion. "If he can hear us from in there, I'm impressed."

Percy shifted, undoing the seatbelt so he could lean further over to the passenger side. He put his lips by Annabeth's ear and she closed her eyes in anticipation before he'd even started speaking, voice hushed. "Maybe if we whisper he won't hear us."

"Maybe," she whispered back, "if you weren't such a distracting dork I could focus on figuring out what happened today when he bumped into you."

Percy pulled back. "That was weird. And totally deliberate, by the way."

"Oh, definitely." Annabeth frowned and snapped her notebook shut. "That wasn't someone feeling faint, that was someone struggling to keep themselves in control."

"Yeah, my monster theory is sounding more promising…"

"When was the last time you saw a monster hold itself back from breaking through the mist?"

Percy shrugged. "How do we know he did hold himself back? We had to leave so we didn't break cover."

"Did you hear any screaming, or hear any rumours about wild animals or attacks in last period?" Annabeth asked harshly.

"No, but so much weird shit has happened at that school lately maybe they're all desensitized to it." Percy lowered his voice, imitating an unknown person, "'Oh, another monster attack. Someone get the janitor to clean up this blood and then back to class, everyone.'"

Annabeth laughed. "Wow."

He smiled and ducked his head. "Okay, I realise how ridiculous that was. My point still stands, though."

"Right." Annabeth tucked her book into her bag and then lifted it up on to her lap. "Come on, they're going to be even more suspicious if we don't hurry up."

With a groan, Percy stepped out of the car. "Into the trap we go."

* * *

A boy they didn't recognise opened the door. He was the same height as Percy, with curly hair and impressive cheek bones. His features were arranged into a cute smile, but his eyes were hard as he looked them up and down. His gaze lingered on Annabeth in a way that put Percy on edge. He put a hand in his pocket, curling his fingers around Riptide just in case.

"You're the new kids," he said flatly.

"That's us," Annabeth said, and to anyone that didn't know her she would have sounded genuinely excited.

Percy spoke at the same time, with nowhere near as much kindness as his girlfriend, "And who are you?"

The guy didn't answer. He stepped slightly to the side, allowing them just enough room to enter the house, if they wanted to, but neither Percy nor Annabeth made any move. They would have had to brush up against him to get past, and after what had happened with Scott they didn't feel like risking it.

"Where'd you transfer from?" he asked.

"New York," Annabeth answered.

"State or city?"

"City," Percy replied. They might have been the same height, and the kid might have been glowering, but Percy wasn't intimidated. He'd been shorter than Annabeth for a few years, and after that experience nothing really seemed all that intimidating anymore.

"Isaac!" Allison stuck her head around the corner of the entrance hall, dark hair swinging over her shoulder. "What's going on?"

"I was just getting to know the new kids," Isaac replied, stepping right back and holding the door open for them.

Allison looked warily between the three of them as Annabeth and Percy stepped inside. Percy kept his hand on the small of Annabeth's back and glared at Isaac as he passed.

"Scott needs help serving up the snacks. He's in the kitchen," Allison said pointedly.

With one last look back at them, Isaac disappeared into the next room. Percy took his hand out of his pocket, but didn't move his other hand from Annabeth's back. She didn't step away, which he knew meant she found the touch just as comforting as he did.

"Sorry, Isaac can be a little… intense." Allison frowned in the direction the boy had gone, and then turned a bright smile towards them. "But the others are just through here, come on."

She led the way into the lounge, where Lydia and Stiles were sitting on the couch. There were textbooks open on the coffee table, but they didn't look like they were reading them. Instead, they were deep in conversation, until Allison cleared her throat and they looked up in tandem.

"Hi," Lydia said, stepping delicately over Stiles's legs and coming to greet them. "Was everything okay with your parents?"

"Oh, yeah, they just want to keep track of us. You know, being in a new town and all," Annabeth answered easily.

"Of course." Lydia nodded and led them over to the couches. "Why'd you move here, again?"

"My dad's a History Professor, he got offered a job at the University," Annabeth lied confidently, settling herself on the arm of the chair Percy took.

Stiles pointed at Percy. "What about your parents?"

"My mom's on an international book tour," Percy said, which wasn't actually a lie. The next bit, however, was entirely fabricated. "Didn't trust me being home alone for a few months, so I've moved in with Annabeth."

"Your dad doesn't care that you're living with your boyfriend?" Scott asked, entering the room with a bowl of chips in one hand and a bowl of popcorn in the other. He looked impressed.

Isaac, following behind him with a tray of drinks, looked bored.

Annabeth blushed. "He's, uh, he's pretty chill when it comes to that sort of stuff."

Stiles whistled lowly, but Allison was frowning. "Wait, your mom's doing a book tour? And your last name's Jackson, right?"

"Yeah, she's -"

Allison's eyes lit up. "Is your mom Sally Jackson?"

Percy smiled, unable to hide his pride. "Yeah, that's her."

"Oh, my god! Her books are amazing, that's so cool!"

"Yeah, she's pretty great."

Lydia smiled. "Did you inherit any of her writing talent?"

Percy laughed. "Ah, no. None at all. Reading and writing aren't my strong suits."

"Hey, you're a pretty good story teller," Annabeth said, squeezing his shoulder.

He smiled up at her, but his expression slipped back to neutrality when Isaac said, "I bet you've got some stories to tell."

Annabeth's hand tightened on Percy's shoulder, and Lydia shot Isaac a look that could have killed. Stiles kept his eyes on Percy, obviously watching for a reaction.

Percy kept his expression and tone flat when he asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Isaac smiled predatorily. "Blowing up gyms and band rooms, being the subject of a national manhunt at the age of twelve… There's gotta be some pretty interesting stories behind that."

Percy and Annabeth both frowned, but it was Annabeth who found her voice first. "You Googled us."

"I overheard the secretaries talking about how many schools you'd been kicked out of and I got curious."

Lydia clapped a hand to her forehead. "Isaac, oh my god."

Allison turned to them, looking genuinely mortified for her friend's behaviour. "I'm so sorry about this, it's none of our business -"

Percy glanced at Annabeth, and when she met his eye he could tell they were thinking the same thing. They were playing the good cop, bad cop game.

"The school stuff was all accidental," Percy said, trying to sound bored more than annoyed. He should have seen this coming. "And as for the manhunt, if you Googled as intensively as you're implying, then you already know that I was framed and cleared of all charges."

An awkward silence fell over the group, and Percy's hand instinctively went to Riptide again.

"Sorry," Annabeth said, sounding not sorry at all. "We don't really talk about it very much, for obvious reasons."

"You were there too," Stiles said. It should have been a question, but it wasn't.

"Stiles, oh my god, you too?" Allison sounded exasperated but unsurprised.

"Yeah, I was there," Annabeth replied, pushing her shoulders back and staring down at him. She looked scarily like her mom when she pulled that face.

"That's intense," Lydia said, glaring at each of her friends in turn until they all looked away, sufficiently embarrassed. "I'm sorry, we didn't invite you over to interrogate you."

"Doesn't feel like it," Percy muttered.

She winced. "Honestly, I invited you in case you needed help with any of the school work."

Before Annabeth or Percy could reply, Scott's phone started ringing. He pulled it from his pocket, and his eyes went wide as he read the details on the screen. "It's Derek."

Everyone else in the room tensed and shared a look, while Annabeth and Percy took a moment to compose themselves and prepare for whatever was about to happen next - because it was obvious that, whatever news Derek was calling with, it couldn't be good.

"Derek? What are you -? Really?" Scott was nodding and already standing. "All right, we'll be right there." He hung up the phone and the entire group looked at him, waiting for instructions.

"Well?" Stiles snapped when he didn't immediately speak.

"We need to go the loft," Scott said, eyes trained on Percy and Annabeth. "All of us."


	4. Lydia

**a.n. my pacing with multichap fics is terrible god im sorry. come yell with me about the wonder of pjo and the new season of teen wolf over on tumblr? im bananannabeth over there too.**

* * *

Lydia had wanted to drive, but it had been enough of a struggle convincing Percy and Annabeth to go with them at all after Stiles and Isaac's performance; letting them drive themselves to the loft seemed like a fair compromise.

Having Lydia sit in their back seat, not so much.

The idea was that they'd be less inclined to just drive off with a relative stranger in their car, but honestly there wasn't anything stopping them from booting her out on the curb and racing away. That was why Stiles had protested so much, but Lydia had ended up offering herself up as a sort of show of good will - like, _Hey, I'm willing to lock myself in a car with you, I know you aren't as bad as all those news reports and expulsions make you out to be!_

Truthfully, she was more intrigued than scared. There was obviously something weird about these two, but she wasn't convinced that it was the bad sort of weird.

Even if Annabeth had glared at her like she wanted to strangle her to death as they'd stomped out of Lydia's house.

Now, Annabeth was choosing to pretend that she wasn't even there and was staring stonily out her window, while Percy kept glancing at her in the rearview mirror, eyebrows knotted together like he was waiting for her to launch into an interrogation.

"I honestly did want to study with you," Lydia said as they followed Stiles's jeep towards the loft.

Her words finally pushed Percy to speak, although what he said had nothing to do with her statement. "Who's Derek?" he asked flatly.

Lydia absentmindedly examined her manicure. "A friend of ours. Older, likes to think he's wiser."

"And what does he want with us?"

Lydia shrugged. "I don't know."

Percy rolled his eyes. "You have no idea at all?"

"If I knew, I would have told you back at the house. It could be anything, really." That wasn't an exaggeration - for all she knew, these two could have been more involved with the supernatural world than she'd thought, and Derek could have met them before. If that was the case, they were doing a good job of acting like the name meant nothing to them. Frustrated, Lydia muttered, "He keeps things mysterious."

"What does he do for a living?" Percy asked.

"Hm." Lydia tilted her head to the side, pondering the question. He obviously had some good investments, because he didn't have a day job. So what _did_ Derek do for a living? Lurk around Beacon Hills, all brooding stares and bulging biceps?

Before she could answer, a car cut them off, turning dangerously close to the bumper, and Percy slammed on the brakes and let out a string of curses. Annabeth sat straight up in her seat and put her hand on his knee. Her eyes met Lydia's in the rearview mirror, and she didn't miss the flicker of apprehension in her expression.

Lydia quirked a brow. "Was that Latin?"

Percy's shoulders tensed as he carefully began driving again. "What?"

"You just swore in Latin," Lydia said, absolutely certain.

"Inside joke," Annabeth said tersely, removing her hand from Percy's leg.

Lydia pursed her lips together and leaned forward between the two front seats, resting her elbows on her knees. "Must be a long running inside joke, to have become instinctual like that."

"Since we were twelve," Percy said.

"Oh, I was twelve when I learnt Latin," she said offhandedly.

It had the exact effect she'd wanted.

Annabeth turned in her seat to look at her front on. She looked thoroughly unimpressed. " _You_ learnt Latin when you were twelve."

"And Archaic Latin when I was fourteen," Lydia said without pause. She smiled her sweetest smile and added, "I was bored of Classical by then."

Annabeth pursed her lips and continued to stare at Lydia, gaze focused and calculating. Lydia met her stare head on, sizing her up just the same. The tension between them was palpable, but the moment was broken when Percy laughed and Annabeth turned her glare onto him instead.

"Wow. Bored of Classical Latin," he breathed, shaking his head. "Unbelievable."

Lydia settled back into her seat with a smug smile, and Annabeth went back to staring out her window in silence.

* * *

They parked beside the Jeep, which Stiles and Scott had driven, and Isaac and Allison pulled up just after them.

Percy craned his head back to look at the building as he got out of the car. He glanced across the roof of the car at Annabeth, who was doing the same, and asked, "Okay?"

"Yeah." She nodded and slammed her door shut.

Lydia watched the exchange curiously, but didn't say anything as she carefully shut her own door.

"Hey," Stiles called, walking briskly over to her. "You all right?"

"Fine," she assured him. "We spent the ride talking about Latin."

Annabeth glanced at her over her shoulder, and Lydia smiled.

Stiles blinked, mouth open. "You spent the -" He cut himself off, turning to face Percy and Annabeth. "You speak Latin?"

"Why, do you need a tutor?" Annabeth said.

Stiles closed his mouth, reeling back.

Allison laughed and Scott clapped him on the back as they walked by. "Smooth."

"That was rude," Stiles said as they all followed after Scott, heading into the building. "Completely uncalled for."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Annabeth said, completely insincere. "You could always just Google it."

Stiles scrunched his face up. "I'm not going to apologise for Googling you."

"You should," Allison admonished. "It's an invasion of privacy."

"It's the internet, there's nothing private about it!" Stiles insisted.

"For once, I agree with Stiles," Isaac said.

"You're willing to eavesdrop on the office ladies, not exactly a great moral compass," Lydia countered.

"If that's the most immoral thing you have against me -" Isaac began, but he didn't even get to finish before the entire group chimed in.

In unison; "It's not."

Percy and Annabeth shared a look as they all piled into the lift. As the doors slid shut and they began moving up, Percy pressed himself against Annabeth's side and laced his fingers through hers. Lydia noticed Annabeth's breath hitch, and Percy squeeze his eyes shut for just a second.

She nudged Scott, and he threw them a worried glance.

When the elevator dinged and Percy opened his eyes, his stare was hard. Both he and Annabeth glanced around as they walked to Derek's door, probably looking for escape routes. Lydia didn't blame them.

When Scott wrenched the door to the loft back, Derek was waiting for them. He was standing in front of his desk, facing the door and holding what looked like a wallet.

"Have you been mugging people again?" Stiles said by way of greeting.

Derek completely ignored him, all of his attention on Percy and Annabeth. "Show me your arms."

With a small degree of surprise, Lydia noticed that neither of them seemed intimidated in the slightest, even though Derek was doing his best to look as tough as possible without resorting to the glowing eyes and fangs.

In fact, Percy looked sort of amused. He stepped lightly into the loft and said sarcastically, "Hi, it's nice to meet you, too. Thanks so much for inviting us over, we're so excited to be making all these new friends."

Derek shot a look at Scott, who seemed caught between shock and amusement. He took a breath and tried again. "Show me your arms. Please."

"The manners are a nice touch," Annabeth said, coming to stand beside Percy. "But generally we like to get to know people a little better before we go showing our skin like that."

Derek made a low noise in the back of his throat, a warning, and Scott immediately stepped into the middle. "Derek, why do you want to see their arms? What's going on?"

Derek stepped forward and held the wallet out to Scott. "I found this in the woods."

Scott took the wallet, flipping it open and looking inside. He pulled out a coin and turned it over between his fingers. "Someone dropped their wallet, so what?"

Behind him, Percy and Annabeth had gone very still. Carefully, Percy pulled a pen from his pocket.

"They dropped it on purpose," Derek said. "And this was inside."

He flicked a photo over to Scott, who caught it easily. He held it up, and the rest of the group crowded forward to get a better look. It was of a group of nine teenagers, all wearing purple and orange t-shirts, standing in front of a strawberry field and grinning into the camera. Right in the middle stood Percy and Annabeth.

Lydia turned to compare the couple in the photo to the one behind her, but they weren't standing where they had been just moments ago. They'd somehow moved around the pack and were now between them and Derek, expressions murderous. Percy was holding the pen like a weapon.

"Where did you find it?"

Derek folded his arms across his chest and smiled smugly. "I'd love to give you more detail, but my memory's a little foggy."

"Tell us where you found it or I swear to the gods I'll -"

Lydia reached out to take the photo, wanting a closer look at the details. As soon as her fingers brushed the paper, however, everything in the loft was instantly drowned out by a chorus of screams. There were battle cries, screams of terror, anguish, loss, victory. There was a flame, a stick burning brightly on one end, slowly but surely getting shorter and burning away, away, away -

When she dropped the photo and the loft swam back into focus, everyone was staring at her.

"Lydia," Stiles said carefully, gently grabbing her elbow to hold her steady.

She felt the scream clawing at the back of her throat but pushed it down, forced herself to swallow around it and spit out the words, "He's dying."

All of the colour drained from Percy and Annabeth's faces. When she met their gaze all of the terror she'd felt from the photo returned.

"Frank…" Percy breathed.

Lydia could still see the flames. "He's burning."


	5. Annabeth

**a.n. so judging by the response to that last chapter, i should write more cliffhangers, yeah?**

* * *

They needed a plan.

They were at a stalemate with their investigation into Scott McCall and Stiles and their friends - they were obviously hiding something, and they obviously knew that Percy and Annabeth were hiding something, too, but the terror on Lydia's face and the reaction of her friends made Annabeth think that they were just as surprised by Frank's condition as she and Percy were.

"Burning?" Percy echoed Lydia's words, voice hoarse. The tendon in his wrist flexed as he tightened his hold on Riptide.

Lydia nodded. Her eyes dropped to the photo on the floor, and she visibly swallowed.

"How do you know?" Annabeth asked.

She believed it, because they'd known from the outset that whatever had taken Frank and Hazel wasn't good, but she needed more information. She needed to gather every detail she could, as fast as she could, so she could form a plan.

Lydia lifted her head. She opened her mouth to answer but seemed suddenly lost for words.

"She just does," Allison answered, voice firm. "Trust her. If Lydia says that your friend's in trouble, then they're in trouble."

"Is he from the same place as you?" Derek asked.

Annabeth glared at him. He obviously knew more about them than any of the others, even if he didn't know the full story, and she didn't know why he wasn't telling his friends. "What does it matter to you?"

"It could help us find him," he replied.

" _Us_?" Percy questioned, incredulous. "No, thanks. Just tell us where you found the wallet and we'll be on our way."

Derek scowled. "You think you can save him by yourself?"

"Well, you've been _so_ helpful so far -"

"He's not alone," Lydia said, cutting Percy off. "There's a girl with him."

Percy's anger immediately switched to concern. "Is she okay?"

"She seemed fine…" Lydia said. "For now."

Annabeth exhaled. Hazel was all right, and she'd be doing everything she could to help Frank.

"I don't know about you guys, but that whole 'burning' thing sounded kind of urgent to me, so would someone mind explaining _what the hell is going on_?" Stiles exclaimed.

Annabeth looked at Percy, asking a silent question - What could they trust them with? How much information could help them find Frank and Hazel, and how much would get them into even more trouble?

Simultaneously, they turned to Derek. His expression revealed nothing.

"Our friends are in trouble, and we need to find them _now_ ," Percy said eventually.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Oh, that's so revealing, thank you, suddenly everything is clear -"

"We'll help you find them," Scott said seriously, talking right over the top of an offended looking Stiles. "But we can't help if we don't know what we're up against."

His words were half directed at Percy and Annabeth, and half at Derek.

There was an extended pause, in which Annabeth stared stonily at Derek and dared him to crack. Percy kept his eyes on Scott, sizing him up. When Scott's expression simply became more earnest, Percy sighed.

He reached out and gently touched Annabeth's elbow, grabbing her attention.

"We're wasting time," he said quietly, head bowed close to hers but his eyes still scanning their surroundings over her shoulder.

"We need more information," she whispered back.

"We _all_ need more information," Isaac said.

Annabeth and Percy both straightened to stare at him, and everyone else in the room glared at him. He'd obviously just done something he shouldn't have, but the look he gave them all suggested he didn't particularly care.

"Freaking super hearing, man," Percy muttered, ruffling the hair at the back of his head in agitation. "Are any of you not capable of eavesdropping on our private conversations?"

Allison and Lydia shared a look, and Stiles coughed into his fist. Right, so three out of six. Not that that ruled them out of having other abilities: what Lydia had done with the photo was definitely not normal.

 _The photo._

Annabeth stalked forward and snatched it off the ground, holding it out to Lydia without looking at it; she couldn't stand to see her friends' smiling faces, knowing they were in trouble now.

"What exactly did you see?" she asked.

"Flames," Lydia said immediately. Her hand hovered over the Polaroid, but she didn't touch it again. "I couldn't really see anything else past the fire."

Derek shifted his weight, almost imperceptible, and Scott flashed him a worried glance before refocusing on Lydia. The exchange was quick enough that most people would have missed it, but Annabeth filed it away to analyse later.

"So our best clue is where you found the wallet," Percy said to Derek.

"I'll take you there," Derek said, surprising almost everyone.

Annabeth tucked the photo into her pocket. "If?"

Derek looked mildly impressed at the fact she'd caught his clause. "If you show me your arms."

Percy swore under his breath in Greek, which made Lydia quirk a brow.

Annabeth glared at Derek as she pushed the sleeves of her jacket up her arms to the elbows. She thrust them towards him, holding them out long enough for him to see they were completely clean.

When he looked from her arms up to her eyes she violently yanked them back down. "Can we go now?"

"You too," Derek said to Percy.

He met Annabeth's eye.

She still didn't understand exactly what Derek's game was, but they didn't really have much choice. The longer they stood here trying to keep their secret, the less time they had to rescue Frank and Hazel.

She nodded, and Percy sighed and rolled his sleeve up, holding his arm out so Derek could see his SPQR tattoo.

Derek's eyes widened, for just a second, before his stoic mask was back in place. He nodded, and Percy pushed his sleeve back down, ignoring the way the rest of the teens were craning their necks trying to get a better look at it.

"Let's go," Derek said, striding towards the door.

"What?" Allison asked, hurrying after him. "We're going now, just like that?"

"No one has explained _anything_ ," Stiles said. "Actually, I'm _more_ confused now than I was when we got here."

"Wow, that's really saying something," Isaac said.

Stiles glared at him. "I still don't see the point of you."

"We still don't know who has your friends," Scott said.

Despite their complaints, they were all following after Derek anyway.

"Frank and Hazel," Percy said. "Their names are Frank and Hazel."

Scott looked genuinely concerned. "We'll find them," he said, patting Percy on the shoulder. Percy tensed at the unexpected contact, and Scott dropped his arm, looking a little sheepish. His voice remained firm, however, as he insisted. "Don't worry. We're going to save them."

"Save them from _what_?" Lydia questioned, her heels clicking against the floorboards as they hurried to the elevator.

"I have an idea," Derek said, looking meaningfully at Percy and Annabeth. "And if I'm right, you might need to call in some reinforcements."

 _Reinforcements?_ Annabeth immediately began calculating how quickly Reyna could send some demigods to them.

"Well, that sounds promising," Percy and Stiles said at the exact time.

They both blinked and leaned away from each other, startled. Scott laughed and Lydia smirked, and Annabeth tried to ignore just how much this group reminded her of the kids at camp.


	6. Stiles

**a.n. in honour of the season six premier (wooo!) stuff actually happens! come talk to me about it over on tumblr (bananannabeth)?**

* * *

"Why can't Derek ever just _tell us anything_?" Scott whined, hitting the dashboard of the Jeep with the palms of his hands.

Stiles scowled. "Don't take it out on the car, man. And it doesn't go with his image. If he were to, you know, communicate like a normal person, it would just make life too easy. It's much better for him to brood mysteriously and not give us information that could probably help save our lives, because this is obviously going to turn into another supernatural shit show. But _whatever_."

They were in a convoy of cars, following Derek into the woods to the spot where he'd found the wallet of the missing boy, and both of them were on edge.

Whatever the hell had happened in the loft, it hadn't been good. Stiles kept running through it in his head, trying to make sense of it. Derek knew something about where Percy and Annabeth were from, which had something to do with why he'd wanted to see their arms, and what _was_ that tattoo on Percy's arm anyway? Some type of trident? With some lines under it, like a -

"Dude!"

Stiles violently yanked the wheel to the right, barely making the turn. "I've got it!"

Scott looked incredulous. "Sure you do."

Derek had parked in a small clearing at the edge of the forest. Stiles pulled the Jeep up alongside him and was just about to open his door when Percy screeched up beside him, slamming the brakes on and practically jumping from the car before Stiles had even pulled the handle. By the time Lydia, Allison and Isaac drove in, both Annabeth and Percy were standing well ahead of the group, obviously impatient to keep going.

"Do you think they're telling the truth?" Allison asked in a low voice, coming up behind Scott. She had a bow and quiver of arrows looped over her shoulder, and looked ready for battle.

Scott glanced at her quickly before looking ahead. "I think they're scared for their friends."

"Should we be scared _of_ their friends?" Stiles asked as they continued the journey on foot, trekking into the woods behind Derek.

Lydia made a soft humming sound. "I don't think so."

Stiles felt the sensation of fond exasperation that he was starting to associate with hanging out with Lydia. She still drove him crazy, but now that he could actually, you know, hold a conversation with her, it was an entirely different sort of crazy. A nicer crazy. The sort that meant he could question her and she'd push back until they figured out the answer to whatever mystery of the moment the group were trying to solve.

"What makes you say that?" he asked her. "I mean, I think we're all in agreement that there's definitely something weird about them, right?"

Lydia nodded and stepped daintily over an exposed tree root. "Oh, definitely. There was that weird moment when Percy bumped into Scott at the school, they were involved in a nation wide manhunt, Derek knows something about where they come from -"

"Which is probably the worst sign of all, if we're being honest," Stiles said.

She kept talking as though he hadn't interrupted, "- They speak Latin and Archaic Greek fluently -"

"Wait, Archaic Greek?" Scott asked, sounding absolutely baffled. "How do you know that?"

"In the car you said they spoke Latin..." Stiles hedged.

Lydia gave them a look. "In the car they did speak Latin. In the _loft,_ however, Percy swore in Greek. I mean, I could be wrong about the fluency part, and maybe they just studied it at school, but honestly, when people are emotional they tend to revert back to their native tongue, so it's definitely suspicious that when he was under emotional stress Percy slipped into two ancient languages."

"Huh," Isaac said helpfully.

Allison ducked under a low hanging tree branch. "I think you're all forgetting the most important thing."

"What?" Scott asked, stepping ahead to hold the next branch aside for her.

She flashed him a gracious smile and said matter of factly, "Their friend's been kidnapped. By something in Beacon Hills."

There was a collective, _oh, yeah,_ moment, in which Stiles made a mental tally of all the weird shit they knew about the new kids. Could he even call them that anymore, though? Would they be coming back to the school, assuming they made it out of here alive? Which sounded pessimistic, but whatever had taken their friends seemed to have Derek worried, and as much as Stiles hated to admit it, anything that worried Derek worried him.

"What was with the whole... arm thing?" Isaac asked eloquently.

"A branding," Stiles and Lydia said at the same time.

That was the second time in less than an hour he'd spoken in sync with someone else, and he wasn't gonna lie, it kind of freaked him out. Although it was much nicer to have it happen with Lydia than Percy.

Lydia gestured for Stiles to continue, so he cleared his throat and explained, "Obviously wherever they come from uses a tattoo as a brand, so they can recognise their members, like a, like a prison gang, or something."

"Ignoring that terrible metaphor," Isaac said, earning himself a glare, "Why doesn't she have one then?"

He was gesturing to Annabeth, who was moving through the woods with the graceful sort of ease that only came from spending many long hours trekking through the wilderness. Percy was similarly light footed, following right behind her and a little to the side, pen clutched tightly in his hand. ...Pen?

"What's with the pen?" Stiles asked before he could stop himself.

"Maybe it's a seniority thing, and he's higher up the ranks than her," Scott offered a logical suggestion in response to Isaac. And then, "What pen?"

"Percy's pen," Stiles said, flinging an arm towards said boy, who was still holding said pen. "That pen, that Percy is holding right now, that he was holding all throughout class but never using, that I'm pretty sure he's had in his pocket this whole day -"

"Okay, we know which pen you mean," Allison said.

" _That_ pen," Stiles finished, for emphasis.

"Maybe it's a comfort thing," Isaac said, shrugging one shoulder.

Stiles was not even going to ask.

"He's holding it like he's going to stab someone with it," Scott noted, which wasn't exactly a pleasant thought. "How much damage can you do with a pen?"

"Quite a bit," Allison said.

"If you use enough force," Lydia added.

"Great. Cool. So, assuming we aren't all being led into a trap right now, he's going to try and use a pen as a weapon against whatever's kidnapped their friends?" Stiles asked.

Before anyone could answer, Percy, Annabeth and Derek all froze a few metres ahead of them. Derek's eyes flashed blue, Annabeth pulled a dagger from a sheath on her leg - a _dagger?_ from a _sheath_? that bore some further questioning - and Percy held the pen out in front of himself and, oh, yeah, he was definitely planning on stabbing someone with that.

Stiles turned to Scott for guidance. Scott's eyes were red, and he was staring off at the same point in the distance as the other three. Isaac of course followed suite, and Allison drew an arrow. Lydia, however, looked about as lost as Stiles felt. He wasn't proud of it, but he was sort of grateful for that.

"What's going on?" Stiles whispered.

"Shh!" Annabeth hissed, somehow managing to glare at him without even actually looking at him.

Stiles flailed his arms, which did nothing except earn him a glare from Derek, too. Sometimes he really hated being a totally regular human surrounded by werewolves with supernatural senses.

Off to their right, a twig snapped. Stiles and Lydia both jumped, but everyone else just spun to face that direction, steely eyed and stern faced.

And then there was a howl.

There was a moment of absolute stillness, and then everyone moved at once, running towards the noise. Every fibre of Stiles's being was screaming for him to run in the opposite direction, but he didn't want to be left behind in the woods, and of course he was going to go wherever Scott was going, even if it was towards certain harm, probable injury and possible death.

Stiles tripped over a tree root, stumbled forward and almost face planted in the dirt before regaining his balance. By the time he stumbled back to his feet and was able to get a bit of a rhythm going again, the rest of the group were ahead of him. Which meant that he caught up just in time to see a giant, black _something_ rearing up and snarling at Derek.

"Is that a _dog_?" he exclaimed, reeling back and throwing his arms up.

Because that's what it looked like - a huge, no, _gigantic_ dog, standing at least double their height, with glowing eyes and sharp teeth and long claws, swiping right towards Annabeth and Percy, who was now holding a _sword_?

"You have got to be kidding me," Percy said, shifting his grip on the handle of the sword - an actual frickin' _sword_ , where had that even come from, where was he hiding that thing, and who used a _sword_ these days anyway, what, was he some kind of medieval knight or something?

Annabeth pulled a cap from the pocket of her jacket. "Usual plan?"

"You have a usual plan for dealing with these?" Scott asked in between growling at the beast.

"Sadly, yes," Percy answered, apparently not fazed by the fact that half of the people around him had suddenly sprouted extra facial hair, fangs and glowing eyes. He nodded at Annabeth, who lifted the cap onto her head and promptly disappeared.

Stiles shouted a string of sounds, none of which were quite enough to count as words. "What the _hell_ just happened?"

"Stiles, other things to focus on right now," Allison said, shooting at the monster.

"But she just _vanished_!"

Derek, Scott and Isaac were moving towards the monster, claws out and eyes glowing. Typically, Isaac lunged for it first, swiping at its flank. It barely even flinched, even as Derek and Scott joined the attack.

"What _is_ that?" Lydia asked, grabbing Stiles's arm.

He shook his head, because he honestly had no idea.

"Here, doggie, doggie," Percy taunted, taking a totally different approach to the werewolves. "Come and get me, come on, let's play fetch."

The monster batted a paw and knocked both Scott and Isaac aside. Derek had to duck to avoid being swiped by its claws, and Lydia and Stiles hurriedly stepped back as it spun around to face Percy front on.

"That's it," Percy said in a sing song voice, neatly sidestepping as it snapped at him. As it reared its head back he swung his sword at the underside of its neck, opening a gash that made it roar with pain and attack again with renewed ferocity.

Reading the strategy, the werewolves fell in behind Percy and waited for breaks in his attack to swipe at the beast's exposed underside and legs, but their claws didn't seem to be doing anywhere near as much damage as his sword.

When its teeth almost snagged his jacket, Percy called out, "Anytime now, Annabeth!"

"Working on it!" her disembodied voice called back.

Stiles wondered if this entire thing was some sick sort of nightmare.

But before he could think about it too much, the dog-monster-thing vanished, too, in a cloud of golden dust. Percy sighed in relief and lowered his sword, and Annabeth reappeared in front of him, cap in hand and a showering of gold over her shoulders.

"What. The. _Fuck._ " Scott exclaimed, staring at the two of them with wide eyes.

"I think we could ask the same thing, dude," Percy said, gesturing at his face, which had just shifted back to normal.

Stiles glanced down as Lydia squeezed his arm. "The pen's a sword," she whispered.

He glanced back up in time to see Percy pocketing his pen again, sword nowhere in sight. He had thought that he was getting used to supernatural stuff, but today was pushing the limits of Stiles's acceptance.

"Do you want the bad news or the good news?" Derek asked.

Everyone gave him an incredulous stare.

"All news," Stiles eventually said. "All news, any news, anything that might give us some useful information. Jesus, why would you even ask that?"

Derek's expression barely flickered. "This is where I found the wallet."

Percy and Annabeth shared a look. She tucked the cap back into her pocket and said, "And the bad news?"

"That thing we just killed," Derek said, sounding nervous, "It wasn't the thing that howled."

"What?" Allison asked. "If it wasn't that, then what was it?"

"It was -"

"Hazel!" Percy yelled, rushing forward. He dropped to his knees and started scrounging around in the dirt. When he sat back on his heels he was holding a yellow gem in the hem of his shirt, sparkling in the late afternoon sun.

Annabeth rushed forward, peering over his shoulder. "There!" she shouted, pointing ahead. "And there!"

The two of them skipped forward, passing by another two gems. The rest of them hurried after, absolutely bewildered.

"She's left us a trail, oh, Hazel, you genius," Annabeth said, sounding happier than Stiles had heard her so far.

"High praise," Percy said, sounding close to a laugh. "I'm definitely telling her you said that."

"Oh, you can tell her anything when we get them out," Annabeth said.

Stiles bent down to get a closer look at the stones, but Annabeth called over her shoulder, "Don't pick them up! Just - just follow them."

"Is this, like, a more valuable version of a trail of breadcrumbs?" Isaac asked.

"That's _exactly_ what this is!" Percy crowed.

"Hey, guys," Scott said, sniffing the air. "Can you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Stiles asked, sniffing too.

Isaac scrunched up his nose. "Yeah, I can smell... something. It's sort of like -"

Lydia said something, too quiet for Stiles to catch. When he turned to look at her, she looked almost as scared as she had back at the loft.

"What was that, Lyds?" Allison asked.

"Smoke. They can smell smoke."


	7. Scott II

The smell of smoke got stronger as they headed further into the forest, until the stench of it had Scott wrinkling his nose. At least there was no doubt they were heading in the right direction.

"What were your friends doing carrying around all these jewels?" Isaac asked, glancing at a particularly huge, yellow gem glittering on the path ahead. "Are you part of a burglary ring or something?"

Percy barked out a laugh. "No, they're not stolen."

"So, if we were to, say, take them and sell them, _morally_ we wouldn't be doing anything wrong..." Stiles led, wiggling an eyebrow.

"Don't," Annabeth snapped. "They're cursed."

"Cursed?" Allison asked. She still had her bow out and armed, arrow at the ready should anything attack. Scott's breath caught in his throat as he looked at her, lithe and agile and so fierce. He didn't know what was happening with her, with _them_ , now, but he did know that his feelings for her were just as intense as ever.

"Bad things happen to people who take them," Annabeth elaborated, drawing Scott's attention away from his ex girlfriend. There was something similar about the way the two girls carried themselves that made Scott like Annabeth, even if she did intimidate him.

"Yes, that is generally the definition of a curse," Stiles said. Lydia shot him a look and he shrugged his shoulders. "What?"

"If you want to be cursed, you're more than welcome to pick one up and take it home," Annabeth muttered, obviously completely out of patience.

"Eh, I think our bad luck quota is just about full, but thanks anyway," Stiles snarked back.

"Guys." Derek turned his head and sniffed. "We're close."

Lydia cocked her head to the side, frowning. "Something feels wrong."

Scott was surprised to see both Percy and Annabeth regarding Lydia seriously. He'd expected them to be skeptical of her abilities, or at least behaving a bit rashly considering how close they were to getting their friends. But they seemed to be heeding her warning, judging by the way they'd stopped walking and had their weapons drawn.

They still hadn't explained where their weapons had even come from, or how Percy's pen-sword and Annabeth's cap of invisibility functioned, or how they'd known how to defeat the monster that had attacked them. But they hadn't asked about the werewolves, either, so Scott was accepting the uneasy truce for now.

"Lyds," Allison said with concern. "What is it? A trap?"

"I don't know, it just feels... off," Lydia said, shaking her head.

Everyone was quiet, the tension in the air so thick that Percy probably could have cut through it with his sword.

Stiles suddenly broke the silence. "We're near the Nemeton."

Everyone tensed. Scott extended his claws and Allison shifted her grip on her bow and arrow.

"Near the what?" Percy asked, throwing a confused glance back at Stiles.

"It's a... tree stump. A really big, bad tree stump that attracts other big, bad things," Stiles said, his words picking up speed as he spoke. "A tree stump that is a beacon for things that would like to hurt us. Maybe sentient? Not really sure, still looking into it. Definitely bad news though."

Percy and Annabeth shared a look. "Ring any bells?"

Annabeth shook her head, causing her ponytail to swish across her back. If possible, she looked even more annoyed than she had before. "Nope."

"If we're near the Nemeton then we can't waste any time," Scott said, pushing forward and following the scent of smoke again.

Everyone followed after him, abandoning stealth in favour of speed, until he stopped at a trapdoor nestled between the roots of two towering trees. If he had been using purely sight and not smell, Scott doubted he would have found it. There was a symbol on the door, a clear carving in the shape of a triangle.

"It's coming from down there," he said.

Annabeth swore, pushing past Scott to stand right in front of the door. She grabbed Percy's hand and pulled him up to stand beside her, gesturing violently with her other hand to the symbol. "What do we do now?"

Percy frowned. "It's not as bad now, apparently. Will said they're using it in Capture the Flag, so it can't be -"

"That's at Camp," Annabeth interrupted. "Judging by the rest of this town, I don't think the labyrinth is going to be as friendly to us here."

"Technically, when they're in the labyrinth, they're not actually _at_ Camp anymore..."

"A labyrinth? You think a maze is down there?" Allison asked.

"Oh, hell no," Stiles said, stepping back. "I've seen that movie, I am not getting involved with any goblin kings -"

"What's that symbol?" Isaac asked, peering over Scott's shoulder.

"A delta," Derek answered.

Annabeth scowled and Percy looked surprised. "Yeah."

Lydia hummed thoughtfully but didn't say anything.

"So what do we do now?" Scott asked Percy. "The smoke's definitely coming from down there."

"Did it seem like they were underground when you saw them, Lydia?" Isaac asked.

Lydia looked up, alarmed. "I - I don't know, I couldn't tell."

"We don't have any other choice. We need to go in," Percy said decisively.

"Any plans for navigating?" Annabeth asked.

Percy shrugged. "Eh. We've made it out every other time, I'm sure we'll find an exit this time too."

"That's reassuring," Stiles muttered.

"If you don't want to come, you don't have to," Percy said, turning around to face all of them. "Thanks for helping us get this far, but we can take it from here."

"No," Scott said before anyone else could speak. "We're not going to leave you here. Whatever's taken your friends, it's done it in our town, and that makes it our problem."

"Noble, but I don't think you know what you're up against," Annabeth said, already half turned back to the door.

Isaac huffed. "We'd know if you'd tell us."

"They're not sure either," Lydia said. When Annabeth glared at her she pushed her shoulders back and met it head on. Scott was, once again, impressed by Lydia's bravery.

"There could be anything in there, that's the point. If you want to follow us down there then hurry up and do it." Annabeth wrenched the door open and, after taking a brief moment to analyse the entrance, dropped down into the darkness without a glance back.

"Annabeth!" Percy called, dropping to his hands and knees and peering over the edge.

"All clear!" Annabeth's voice floated back out, not too far down. "It's an easy drop, decent sized tunnel. Smoke's definitely stronger down here."

Percy quickly looked over his shoulder before dropping down after her.

Scott looked to Derek. "Do you think we should...?"

Derek nodded.

Steeling himself, Scott led the group into the labyrinth.

* * *

The tunnel was cold and dark. Scott and the other werewolves didn't have it too bad, being able to use their heightened senses to see through it, but Stiles and Allison were struggling, constantly bumping into the rest of the group.

"Dude!" Scott exclaimed as Stiles slammed right into his back.

"Sorry!" Stiles fumbled through his pockets for his phone, turning on the flashlight and then immediately dropping it as the beam swept over the two people standing right in front of them. "Shit!"

"I hope this isn't you trying to be stealthy," Percy said, swiping the phone out of mid air as it fell. He held it out, raising an eyebrow as Stiles snatched it back.

"Sorry," Scott said, "They can't see."

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

From the back of the group, Lydia said quietly, "I can see fine."

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"Lydia, you can see down here?" Stiles asked, swinging the flashlight around to illuminate her.

She nodded.

Annabeth stepped forward and grabbed her wrist, yanking her to the front. In the light of the phone's torch, her smile looked eerily predatory. "You're clear sighted."

Lydia raised her eyebrows and snatched her hand free. Scott got the feeling that, if she'd wanted to, Annabeth could have kept holding her, but she let her go without a fight.

"What's 'clear sighted' mean?" Allison asked.

"It means you can see where we have to go," Annabeth said. "Lydia, which tunnel is lit up?"

Scott looked past Percy, to where the corridor they were standing in branched off to three new ones. He couldn't see any difference between them, but Lydia looked at them with wide eyes and said plainly, "The middle one."

Percy gestured for Lydia to step up and walk beside him. "After you."

Stiles cut in front of Scott and reached for Lydia's hand. Scott smelt her fear ease slightly as she curled her fingers through Stiles's, and smiled.

They took off into the labyrinth, with Lydia leading the way.

After three turns, Stiles turned the light off on his phone, convinced by Annabeth and Derek that it would be better to save battery and make their entrance as stealthy as possible.

Lydia continued on undeterred, deciding which direction to go in with apparent ease. Scott didn't understand how she was doing it, but he trusted her.

"I'm getting deja vu, being led through the labyrinth by a clear sighted redhead," Percy mumbled after a few minutes of tense silence. Annabeth audibly growled, and Percy chuckled. "Sorry."

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain."

Percy brushed his pinky finger against Annabeth's, and she grabbed his hand without looking down.

Scott was just about to comment on how the scent of the smoke was definitely getting way stronger when Lydia stopped suddenly, reaching out to touch the wall. "Here," she said, sounding far away.

Percy put his hand right beside hers and pushed. The wall shifted slightly, but not enough. Lydia stepped back and Scott, Annabeth, Derek and Isaac lined up around Percy and helped him push. With their combined strength, the wall shifted relatively easily, moving in and then sliding to the side.

They stood in the newly exposed doorway, blinking in the face of a bright orange light. When his eyes adjusted, Scott could make out a sizeable room, much more solid in structure than the tunnel they'd just been walking down. It had stone walls, one of which was taken up entirely by a fireplace, in which a large fire was roaring. Solid wooden beams crossed the ceiling and framed the secret doorway they stood in, as well as standing tall in each corner.

In the middle of the room, a boy and girl were hanging by their wrists from steel chains. The boy had electrical cables clamped to his shackles and appeared to be unconscious, but the girl lifted her head when the door opened.

"Percy, Annabeth!" she exclaimed, her entire face lighting up with joy. "You followed the trail!"

"Hazel!" Percy exclaimed, running into the room and reaching straight for her wrists. "Are you okay? The trail was a stroke of genius, of course we followed it, I'm just sorry we didn't get here sooner! What have they been doing to you? Who did this to you?"

As he struggled to undo her shackles, Annabeth was on her tip toes trying to do the same with the boy, who must have been Frank. Scott could see that she didn't stand a chance of getting them undone on her own, so he quickly slashed at them with his claws. They fell apart around Frank's wrists and he slumped forward. Both Annabeth and Scott went to catch him, and each ended up supporting his weight.

"Thanks," Annabeth said over Frank's shoulders, and Scott could tell how genuine she was.

"No problem," he replied as Derek did the same for Hazel's chains.

She winced when she lowered her arms, rubbing tenderly at the red, raw skin of her wrists and gingerly rotating her shoulders.

Percy looked positively murderous. "Hazel, who did this to you?"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but from what I was able to overhear I think it was L-"

A huge crashing sound came from the corridor, and everyone turned just in time to see another huge beast barrelling into the room. It looked similar to the last one - like a huge, black dog on monstrous steroids - but Scott didn't really get a chance to have a proper look at it before it was swiping at them with extended claws and he had to jump back just to avoid being disemboweled.

"Can you cover Frank?" Annabeth asked.

"Wha - Yeah, I can, but -"

"Good." She shrugged Frank off her shoulder, hoisting all of his weight over to Scott, and charged at the monster with her dagger drawn.

The room was too small and the beast too big for them to use the same strategy as last time; both Annabeth and Percy were now visible and attacking from front on, backed up by Derek and Isaac. Allison stood as far back as she could get and fired arrows into the beasts mouth every time it roared or tried to take a bite of any of them.

Scott shifted so that Frank was positioned close to the corner and he could stand in front and protect him. Stiles seemed to have had the same idea with Lydia across the room, although Scott was worried about how he was going to fare against this thing with no claws or healing powers.

He was so focused on trying to keep track of everyone in the fight that Scott almost jumped when Hazel appeared beside him.

"Go," she said, "I'll cover Frank."

Scott hesitated. "But -"

"Go!" Hazel repeated, and Scott didn't stick around to argue.

He ran up beside Percy and started slashing at the monster, sliding under its arm and clawing at its soft underside as he went. It howled in pain and lashed out with its paw, but they didn't relent. When it snapped at Annabeth, it was clear that this dog wasn't playing, so they couldn't afford the luxury of going easy on it.

In the end, it was impossible to tell who landed the killing blow - one moment they were all slashing at the monster, and the next it had disintegrated, nothing but a pile of golden dust.

They didn't get a chance to celebrate, though, as thunderous footsteps sounded down the hall.

"Close the door!" Annabeth screamed, and the werewolves listened without hesitation, leaning against it to hold it closed.

His back against the door, Scott caught side of Stiles and Lydia across the room. They looked unharmed, thank god, standing still in one piece and with their arms around each other. But they were staring at something in the corner with horrified expressions, and Scott's stomach dropped as he followed their gaze.

"Uh, we might have to open the door," he said.

Annabeth looked up from where she was checking on a deep gash across Percy's collarbone. When she saw what they were talking about, all of the colour drained from her face.

Several of the wooden beams that had crisscrossed the ceiling had been knocked loose by the monster in the frenzied attack and were now sitting in a pile on the ground - their ends hanging over into the fireplace. One of the corner pillars was on a precarious lean, about to join them.

Fire licked up the side of the beam on the bottom of the pile, and the whole stack quickly caught alight.

Annabeth whipped her head around from the fire to her boyfriend. "Is there any moisture in the air?"

Percy shook his head, looking panicked. "The fire's taken it all."

Outside the door, the stampede of footsteps came closer. All Scott was smell was smoke and fear. Annabeth let go of Percy and spun in a circle, searching for a way out. The beam in the corner cracked and leaned even closer to the fire.

"Percy," Hazel said, looking straight down. She was on her hands and knees beside the still unconscious Frank, bleeding from a fresh gash on her cheek, but her voice was level and calm. "Do you feel that?"

Percy crouched down, splaying his palm on the ground. When he stood, he was almost smiling. "Hazel, I know I've already told you this tonight, but you're a genius."

"I know," she said, smiling back at him. "Now hurry up!"

"Hurry up with what, what's the plan?" Lydia asked, voice high pitched and strained.

Percy frowned. "Can you all swim?"

"What?" Stiles gaped at him.

Scott blinked. "We're trapped in a _cave,_ why are you asking about -"

"It doesn't matter if they can swim or not, it's our best bet," Annabeth snapped, eyes locked on Percy. "Will you have the energy to support them all once it's done?"

He quickly glanced at each of them, as if doing a headcount. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

For the briefest of moments, Annabeth's expression wavered, as if she was worried about him. But then her steely determination returned and she nodded. "Okay. Everyone hold hands."

"Hold hands? How is a prayer circle going to help us now?" Stiles said, even as they all stepped into the middle of the room and he reached for Lydia with one hand and Scott with the other.

Scott took his hand and looked to Annabeth for guidance.

"Someone needs to help me support Frank," she said, trying to lift him up with just Hazel's help.

Derek lifted him easily and carried him over to the group, holding his weight up.

Annabeth said a quick thanks as she joined the circle, holding hands with Percy on one side and Hazel on the other. When Hazel held a hand out to Scott he took it with only the slightest hesitation.

The heat from the flames was quickly becoming unbearable, and the smoke was starting to make Scott's eyes sting. The beam in the corner split clean in half and fell into the fire, immediately catching alight and making Stiles jump.

"Seriously, why are we holding hands?" he exclaimed. "Is this a comforting thing, like, ' _Hey, you might be about to die, but at least you're holding hands with people you love!'_?"

Lydia's breath caught slightly at his words, but she didn't say anything and Stiles didn't give any indication that he registered what he'd just said.

Annabeth frowned at Stiles and said, "Save your breath, you're going to need it."

"Need it for what?" Isaac asked from Allison's other side, sounding genuinely concerned for the first time all night.

Scott caught Allison's eye. She looked determined, but she couldn't quite hide the fear in her eyes.

"We're going to be okay," Scott said, pouring every bit of conviction he had into the words.

Allison smiled, and even though it was small and fleeting, Scott thought it was worth it.

Scott's focus shifted to Percy as he began to move. While he held onto Annabeth with one hand, Percy was slowly raising the other through the air, palm up, like he was... summoning something?

The ground beneath them began to shake.

"What's happening?" Allison asked, eyes wide. She squeezed Isaac and Lydia's hands and looked right at Scott. "Is this good or bad?"

"Stop talking!" Annabeth ordered. "Hold your breath!"

Somehow sensing what was coming, Scott did as she said. The rest of the group listened, too, and thank god they did. Seconds later, the ground cracked open and a torrent of water came flooding in and filled the room.


	8. Percy III

**a.n. i'm so sorry for the wait, thank you so much for being so patient and for all of your lovely comments! i really appreciate every single bit of feedback this fic gets, and i'm so glad to hear that you're all enjoying it as much as i am.**

* * *

When Percy came to, Annabeth's worried face was hovering above him, eyebrows pinched together and grey eyes watering. Her curls were matted to her forehead and she looked like she was about to punch him, but the minute he opened his eyes she immediately softened, dropping her forehead to his.

He felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Creating a small earthquake to crack the ground and get to the water supply beneath had been fine, but controlling that much water and that many people in such a confined space had been relatively difficult. Maneuvering them all out the door and over the heads of the people who had been coming for them had taken a lot of concentration, and he'd lost control of the air bubble he'd had them all in just before they broke the surface, leaving everyone except for him drenched.

He felt like he needed to dive headfirst into the ocean to recover. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out for, but he hoped it wasn't too long.

"Annabeth," he murmured, bringing a hand up to her face.

She let out a shaky breath and whispered, "Percy, thank the gods you're okay. You had me worried..."

He stroked her cheek before she pulled back, smiling down at him. They were in the preserve, and Annabeth was kneeling in the dirt beside where Percy was splayed out on his back.

"Everyone make it?" he asked, wincing as he sat up.

He must have only been out for a few minutes, because everyone else was still slowly getting to their feet and wringing out their hair and clothes. They all seemed to be accounted for and awake - even Frank, who lit up as soon as he saw Percy moving.

"Percy!" he rushed over, Hazel at his side, and dropped down to the ground beside him. "Man, am I glad to see you."

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, checking him over for injuries. There were red marks on his wrist and a deep scratch down the side of his face, and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.

"I'm fine, now that I'm out of there," Frank said. "That was a good trick with the water, by the way, nothing like a tsunami to wake you up and get you out of an underground prison."

"It was Hazel's idea," Percy said, smiling gratefully.

Hazel ducked her head slightly, patting his hand. "Yeah, but we never would have made it out of there without you."

"What the hell just happened?" The four demigods turned around to see a drenched Isaac, claws out and eyes flashing yellow.

"Whoa, Isaac, hey!" Scott put a placating hand on his chest, standing in front of him. "They just saved our lives."

"Yeah, but _how_?" Stiles asked.

Allison tipped her quiver upside down and water poured out. "Where did that water come from?"

As usual, Percy looked to Annabeth for a cue on how to handle this. He didn't think there was much point in trying to hide anything, now - there was no logical explanation for what had just happened, mist or no mist - and judging by the powers these guys had he didn't think they'd find it all that hard to believe in demigods anyway.

Annabeth must have been on the same page as him, because she took a deep breath and said, "Do you want to tell them, or should I?"

"We're telling them?" Frank said, frowning. "Is that a good idea?"

"You missed a bit while you were out, Frank," Percy said, clapping him gently on the shoulder. "We don't really have much choice at this point."

Surprisingly, Frank didn't seem at all comforted by this. "What'd I miss?"

" _What just happened_?" Stiles yelled, flinging his arms out to the side and spraying water droplets on to a stunned looking Lydia. "You can have your catch up later, after you've explained how you managed to summon water from nowhere to carry us out of that maze of death! _What are you_?"

Percy and Annabeth shared another look before Percy decided the direct approach was their best bet, at this point. "We're demigods. What are you?"

"You're demi- _what_?" Isaac had retracted his claws and his eyes were no longer yellow, but he was still glowering.

"Demigods," Annabeth repeated, voice stern. "What are you?"

Everyone looked to Derek, who had been loitering at the back of the group and watching the exchange with quiet interest. He said calmly, "I think you've already figured that out. If we confirm it, however, you have to promise to remember that we're on your side."

"Have we not already proved that, what with the following you into the freaking first circle of hell down there?" Stiles snapped.

Derek glared at him before refocusing on Percy and Annabeth. "I'm just saying, I understand your hesitance when we first met, but I want you to know that we have a common enemy."

"Ah yes, nothing like strangers bonding over the same person trying to kill them," Percy said. "I've met so many friends that way."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and slowly stood. "We have an alliance, we get it. Now answer the question."

The ground rumbled below them, and everyone froze.

"Not me," Percy said, holding his hands up.

Hazel shook her head, damp curls bouncing. "That's not good."

Annabeth scanned the ground, eyes roving over tree roots and twigs, dirt patches and the gaping cracks that Percy had caused. "We need to go."

"Where are we going?" Frank asked. He still looked slightly wobbly on his feet, and Percy was concerned that he wasn't going to make it too far.

Scott must have had the same concerns, because he frowned at Frank. "The loft's too far. We'll go to my house."

"Your house?" Annabeth and Stiles asked in unison.

Scott shrugged. "It's closest to the preserve, and we really do need to get out of here before - before anything else comes after us."

"We probably shouldn't be spending any extra time around the Nemeton, anyway," Allison said.

"Okay then," Percy said decisively. "Scott, lead the way."

* * *

Scott's house was nice. It had that comfortable, lived in quality that all good homes had, and it was filled with photos of a younger Scott. Stiles featured in most of them, along with a beautiful woman who Percy assumed was Scott's mother. There weren't any photos of his father around.

The whole setting was eerily familiar, and Percy found himself overcome for a second by how much he missed his mom.

"Percy."

He spun away from the photo on the mantle he was standing in front of to see the entire group had their eyes on him. Derek was standing behind the couch, arms folded and expression serious. Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Allison were crammed onto the couch, shoulder to shoulder, while Isaac had one armchair and Frank had the other. Hazel was perched on the arm beside Frank, and Annabeth came around to stand beside Percy. They all had towels draped over their shoulders, trying to dry themselves off.

As soon as she was up there with him, he felt better about having all of their focus. This was just like a camp meeting, no big deal. He could easily talk to these kids about all of the weird shit they were going through. He'd done it a million times before.

Except the kids he was used to talking to were demigods, not...

"What are you?" he asked bluntly, too tired to bother dancing around the question.

Now that he could see Frank and Hazel alive and safe before him, the adrenaline Percy had been running on was fading.

Everyone craned their necks to look back at Derek, but they were all surprised when it was Scott who answered, "We're werewolves."

All the colour drained from Frank's face as he grabbed for Hazel's hand. Hazel was gaping at Scott, eyes wide, but Annabeth's face was unreadable.

Percy figured that she was like him and had figured it out back in the clearing when they'd fought the hellhound. He'd wanted to ask about it then - he'd never met any cooperative werewolves before, believe it or not - but he'd been slightly preoccupied with saving Hazel and Frank.

Annabeth slowly looked around the group. "Not all of you."

"No, not all of us," Derek agreed, but he didn't say anything further.

"Wait, hold up," Stiles said, holding his arms out in front of himself, palms facing Annabeth. "Why are you acting like this isn't a big deal?"

Annabeth smirked, and Percy actually laughed, explaining, "Werewolves aren't really high on our list of mind blowing discoveries, trust me."

Isaac was definitely offended.

Ignoring the jibe, Scott rounded on Derek. "You knew they were demigods."

"I had my suspicions," Derek admitted.

"How did you know about us?" Percy asked. "Have you met demigods before?"

"Wait, can we just - back up, a second?" Isaac said, shaking his head. "What exactly _is_ a demigod?"

Percy raised an eyebrow at Annabeth. "You've given the spiel more times than me, you wanna handle this one?"

"We're children of gods and mortals," she explained flippantly, as though this was the least exciting and least pressing thing they had to talk about. "Greek and Roman gods, specifically. Our abilities vary, but just know that we're very good at what we do."

Percy made a note to steal that line for next time he was doing orientation at Camp.

"You're asking to believe in gods, now?" Isaac questioned, disbelieving.

"You believe in werewolves," Annabeth countered.

"Yeah, but that's -"

"Different, that's different," Stiles exclaimed, sitting so far forward on the couch he was almost off it. "The bite is - it's a thing, it's a chemical reaction, or something -"

Lydia snorted at that eloquent description.

Stiles ignored her. "Gods are -"

"Real," Annabeth said, leaving no room for discussion. "I'd think that you'd be inclined to believe us after witnessing Percy, son of Poseidon, create an earthquake and summon water from an underground spring to get us out of the Labyrinth, but if you really insist on being ignorant it doesn't change anything. We're demigods, and some of you are werewolves, and apparently we have a common enemy."

The last bit was directed at a pensive looking Derek. He sighed and said, "I haven't met any demigods before you, but I'd heard stories. Children of the gods with mighty powers, weapons and training to kill monsters - monsters like us. The stories said there was a base in California, a military camp that branded its soldiers."

Percy fought the instinct to look down at his SPQR tattoo.

Derek walked around to stand across the mantel from Percy. "When I found the photo in the woods, I knew straight away that it must have belonged to one of the demigods from the stories. I recognised the logo on your shirts - on the purple ones, anyway. I knew you had to be young, and I knew that your kind don't like drawing attention to themselves, so when I rang Scott to see if there'd been any new arrivals at the high school and he said he was with you guys, I knew it had to be connected."

"What were you doing in the woods in the first place?" Lydia asked. She had, up until now, been extremely quiet. Percy might have thought she'd been overwhelmed, but he'd been friends with Annabeth long enough to recognise when someone was strategically gathering information.

"I got word of some attacks in Beacon County a few weeks ago," Derek said, sounding more hesitant now. "At first I thought it was just an omega gone rogue, pushed into our territory out of desperation, but then... then I heard some other rumours."

"You think the same person who took Hazel and Frank is responsible for those attacks?" Scott asked.

"We were sent down here to scout out the same attacks," Hazel said. "I'm not one hundred percent sure who captured us, but I heard bits and pieces when they thought I wasn't listening, or when..." She trailed off. Frank squeezed her hand, and Percy felt a rage boiling in his chest. "Anyway. I heard some things, and if what I've pieced together is correct, it makes sense that you guys are werewolves."

"What does that mean?" Allison asked.

"It -"

Hazel was cut off by the front door opening and a woman calling out, "Scott! Are you here? I'm ho -" She trailed off as she looked into the lounge, eyes widening as she took in the sight of the group of teenagers dripping water all over her couches. "-me."

Scott smiled sheepishly. "Hi, Mom."


	9. Stiles II

**a.n. can you believe i posted this on tumblr and ao3 but forgot to post it here... sorry everyone**

* * *

"You couldn't have this meeting outside?" Melissa said sadly, looking at the wet patches on her couch.

Everyone had gotten to their feet when she'd arrived, Scott and Stiles moving forward to greet her and everyone else hovering awkwardly in the lounge, trying to wring the excess water out of their hair with the towels still draped over their shoulders.

"I'm really sorry, Mom," Scott said, almost pleading.

Stiles quickly came to his defence, gesturing to the bottom of the doorframe. "We couldn't talk outside, we needed to be inside the mountain ash barrier."

Melissa didn't look comforted. Her gaze flickered over the group, lingering on the demigods - _demigods!_ Actual, real live, half-gods standing in Scott's house, Stiles could hardly believe it - before settling back on Scott. "What's happened now? And who are your new friends?"

"Mom, this is Percy, Annabeth, Hazel and Frank," Scott introduced, pointing to each of them in turn.

Annabeth and Percy smiled, looking about as welcoming and polite as Stiles had ever seen them. Hazel and Frank smiled, too, but they were clearly exhausted and overwhelmed. When Frank raised his hand in a small wave, Melissa frowned.

"What happened to your wrist?" she asked, dropping her bag onto the table and stepping over to him. Stiles could physically see the switch from annoyed mom to concerned nurse.

Frank flinched back, but Hazel and Percy both put a steadying hand on his arms. Scott rushed over, hovering by his mom's side. "Frank, Mom's a nurse. She can help."

"I'm not sure how much she'll be able to help with this," Percy said carefully. The look he gave Scott made it clear that he wasn't sure how much Melissa knew, and he didn't want to overstep any boundaries. Stiles appreciated the respect.

"Trust me, I can help," Melissa mused, eyebrows drawn together as she carefully turned Frank's wrist over in her hands. "How did you get these wounds? It looks like you were chained…" Frank winced, and Melissa's hands stilled. Her eyes flashed, and then her lips set into a thin line. She looked to Scott. "Tell me everything. Right now."

Scott chewed his bottom lip. "Well -"

"Well, uh, so, things have… expanded, slightly," Stiles said, waving a hand at Annabeth, who batted it away. "And there's some new monsters in town -"

Melissa rolled her eyes, which was not quite the response Stiles had been expecting, but he thought it was fitting anyway. "Of course there are," she muttered.

"- But these guys have fought them before and won, so everything's fine, we've definitely got a plan and you have absolutely nothing to worry about," Stiles finished, smiling brightly.

Melissa blinked at him before turning to Scott and asking flatly, "What are we up against?"

"We were just getting to that bit," Scott said. "Hazel was about to tell us what she'd heard."

Hazel shuffled her feet slightly against the carpet. "It's not good," she said warningly. "We have fought him before - well, not us, exactly, but our friends have - and they didn't exactly _win_. They just sort of… survived."

Allison folded her arms across her chest, pressing the wet towel down her front. "Who is he?"

"Lycaon," Hazel said grimly.

"The first werewolf?" Stiles and Allison asked in shocked unison.

That was impossible. That couldn't be true. Lycaon was ancient, he was a myth, he was - an all powerful werewolf, the original Alpha. When Scott had first got the bite, Stiles had done a lot of research. Lycaon had come up a fair bit, and nothing about him was good. Even back when he was a human, he was a nasty guy. It takes a sick sort of person to not only murder their own son but then to feed him to someone, especially to Zeus - Who was apparently real, if Annabeth and Percy were telling the truth?

Which they probably were, Stiles couldn't see any reason for them to lie, and if they _were_ going to lie this was a weird backstory to go with, pretty unnecessarily complicated. It explained Percy's ability to manipulate water, and the fact that they were unfazed by Scott and the others transforming, and their weapons, and the way they'd known to take down that monster in the preserve…

But anyway, the point was, Lycaon was a dick, but he was also really dangerous. If he was in Beacon Hills, they were in trouble.

Scott rounded on Derek. "Did you know about this?"

"I had my suspicions," Derek said quietly. He sounded genuinely remorseful. "I was hoping it wasn't the case."

"Are you sure it's him?" Allison asked Hazel.

Hazel nodded, twisting her hands together in front of herself. "I'm sure. I never saw him, but I heard them talking about him, they called him by name."

"Who are _they_?" Annabeth asked. Her expression was one of steely determination, her gaze far away, as though she was already mentally drawing up a plan of attack.

"His followers, his pack," Hazel explained.

"Didn't we just defeat an Alpha pack?" Isaac asked. "How could another one come to town so quickly?"

"This isn't another Alpha pack," Derek said sourly. "This is the first ever werewolf, the first Alpha. He's worse than Deucalion. Much worse."

"You said your friends had faced him before," Stiles said to Hazel. "How did they survive?"

"Luck," Percy said immediately. "Reinforcements arrived just in time, the first time, and the second time… well, no other demigod would have been able to get away."

Stiles clapped his hands together. "So call them! Your friends who've fought him before." Percy opened his mouth to protest, but Stiles barrelled on through. "Yeah, it might not have been the best fight, but at least they've met him before. They can tell us what we're up against."

"That's what you meant, back at the loft," Annabeth said to Derek, "When you said we might need reinforcements."

Derek nodded. "I was really hoping it wouldn't come to it, but if Lycaon is really in Beacon Hills, then our two worlds might finally have to meet."

Percy shook his head. "I don't want to drag them into this."

"Perce, he's trying to get to Camp Jupiter," Hazel said. "If we don't stop him here, he's going to attack them."

"It'd be better for him to try attacking the camp," Annabeth said, turning on her heel and breaking away from the group. She started pacing across the lounge, fingers steepled in front of herself. "Their defences are better there, and Lupa would never allow him to pose a real threat."

"Do you really think so? Camp's pretty fractured after the war, Annabeth, I don't know if they could stand another attack," Hazel said softly.

 _War_? Stiles shared a look with Scott, making a mental note to research that later.

Annabeth wavered. "We can't face him here, we're at a disadvantage. We don't know the surroundings -"

"But we do," Scott said, eyes flashing red. "We'll help you. We've fought Alphas who thought they were stronger than us before, and we've won. We'll do it again."

"You don't understand what you're up against," Annabeth protested. "Lycaon is dangerous, _really_ dangerous. And none of this is a coincidence. There are plenty of different directions he could have come from to get to the camp, but he chose this town for a reason. He kept Hazel and Frank alive for a reason. He -"

Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand, stopping her pacing. He spun her around to face him, holding her gaze. "Annabeth. We're going to figure this out, just like we've figured everything else out. But for now -"

Annabeth's fingers twitched in his hold. "But -"

"Right now," Percy said firmly, "Frank and Hazel need ambrosia and rest, and we need to contact Reyna. We'll talk to her and Chiron and we'll figure out what to do with their help, okay?"

It took a few seconds before Annabeth nodded stiffly. "Okay."

Percy went to let go of her hand, but she tightened her hold. He glanced down at their interlocked fingers, a surprised smile lighting up his face, and tugged her over to stand against his side.

Stiles glanced over at Lydia, who had sat back on the couch and was watching the exchange curiously. When she felt him looking she glanced up and met his eye, and Stiles knew that she was as intrigued as he was.

"You can stay here for the night," Melissa said. "As long as you don't mind sleeping on the couch, or mattresses on the floor."

"You really don't have to -" Annabeth started to say.

At the same time, Percy said, "That'd be great, Ms McCall. Thank you."

Melissa nodded, and that was settled. "Just let me get my first aid kit, I want to put some disinfectant on your wrists before you go to sleep."

Frank glanced up at Annabeth, as if checking this was okay.

"It can't hurt," was all she said.

Everyone started to move, sensing that the conversation had drawn to a close for the night. Isaac drifted towards Allison, the back of his hand brushing hers, and she turned to talk to him in a hushed voice. Scott winced and turned away, following his mom out of the room.

"Uh, Ms McCall," Percy said, getting everyone's attention. "Do you have a sink we could borrow?"

* * *

With a mirror, a flashlight, the kitchen tap and a coin, Percy and Annabeth had made some sort of mythical Skype call back to the demigod camp: Camp Jupiter, they'd called it. A girl with long, dark hair in a detailed braid and a stern face was talking to them, although it had taken a bit of convincing to get her to talk freely with everyone else and Derek were in on the conversation, too, acting as Alpha and liaison, and Melissa was sitting at the kitchen table, tending to Frank and Hazel's wounds with the care only a registered nurse could provide.

Stiles was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded over his chest, running through all of the information they had. Which wasn't really all that much, the more he thought about it.

"We need to figure out what can kill him," Allison said, coming to stand beside Stiles.

He glanced down to see she was holding her empty quiver. She must have lost all of her arrows in the flood.

"Wolfsbane?" Stiles offered. "That almost killed Derek."

"Maybe Lycaon's different, though," Lydia said, coming around Allison's other side. "All the myths say he can only be harmed by silver."

"He can't be hurt with our usual weapons," Hazel offered from the table. Stiles was surprised that she'd been listening to them; her eyes had been locked on Frank the whole time Melissa had been treating him. "Celestial bronze and imperial gold don't work against him. Silver arrows have hurt him, in the past."

"Okay, so we try both silver and wolfsbane, then," Stiles said.

"I'll get my dad to help," Allison offered. "I'll go home now and start collecting bullets and arrows."

"I'll drive you," Isaac said.

Stiles was glad that Scott was too engrossed in his conversation to see them leave, Isaac's hand hovering just above the small of Allison's back. He'd thought that Lydia would want to go with them, but she'd declined, saying that she wanted to get some more information before heading home. Once Allison and Isaac were done, however, she didn't move from Stiles's side.

"Annabeth's right," she said, voice low. "This isn't a coincidence."

"Definitely not," Stiles agreed, in the same tone.

"Stiles, Lycaon is the original Alpha. The bestiary says that he has powers other Alphas don't."

He tried to hide his alarm. "What do you mean?"

Lydia grabbed his elbow and dragged him around the corner. Once they were out of sight of the others she let him go, but neither of them stepped back, keeping their heads bowed close together.

"The bestiary says that he has control over all other werewolves," Lydia whispered.

Stiles's stomach turned to lead. "What? No, that can't be - Are you sure you translated it correctly?"

Lydia glared at him.

"Okay, sorry, you translated it correctly," he apologised. "So… so he can control other werewolves? And you think that's why he came to Beacon Hills, to - what, to recruit more into his pack before attacking the demigods?"

Lydia licked her lips. "Not just more of them… I think he came here for someone specifically."

Stiles's eyes widened. He straightened up as her meaning sunk in. "You don't think…?"

Lydia nodded solemnly. "Scott."

Stiles swallowed thickly and turned back to peer into the kitchen, where Scott was standing with a straight spine beside Percy, deep in discussion about how to keep their homes safe. "Lycaon wants a True Alpha."


	10. Annabeth II

**a.n. two chapters to make up for the lack of posting... sorry again!**

* * *

The McCall's couch was comfortable. It was better than the motel bed that Annabeth and Percy had been staying in, anyway. It was soft and long enough for Annabeth to stretch her legs out, and she felt relatively safe there, but she couldn't sleep.

Percy was lying on a blowup mattress on the floor beside her; she could hear him breathing, a steady rhythm in the otherwise silent lounge. She wanted to check if he was awake, but didn't want to disturb him if he was asleep.

So Annabeth was stuck lying on her back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling of this strange house and running over everything that she'd learnt over the last day.

Werewolves could be friendly, for one.

She'd known something was weird about Scott McCall from the first moment she'd seen him in Biology - something about the way he held himself, with more awareness of his surroundings than the usual teenager - but she wouldn't have guessed that he was a werewolf until he'd shifted in their fight with the hellhound. He didn't seem like the type to enjoy violence or physical confrontations, nor did he seem to have any particular blood lust.

Annabeth had been wrong in her perceptions of supernatural people before, though. Look at Tyson.

So, for the most part, the McCall pack - made up of werewolves, humans and… something else, she suspected of Lydia - seemed friendly. They'd certainly been willing to go out of their way to help them save Hazel and Frank.

The two of them were asleep in the guest room, recovering from their traumatic kidnapping. The ambrosia had healed up the injuries on their wrists, and Frank's burns, but more time would be required for them to heal from the psychological scars.

After everyone else had left and Scott and Melissa had gone to bed, Hazel and Frank had sat up talking to Percy and Annabeth about what they'd been through.

They'd detailed how they'd been ambushed, how a highly organised and targeted group of werewolves, backed up by two hellhounds, had pounced on them. They'd had some sort of electrical device that had shocked Frank repeatedly and prevented him from shifting, and Hazel had been so terrified and overwhelmed by that that she hadn't been able to manipulate the mist fast enough. She'd been knocked unconscious in the fight, and when she'd woken up they'd been shackled in that underground lair.

It had been physical torture for Frank, who was shocked at regular intervals to prevent him from changing form, and it had been mental torture for Hazel, who could feel exactly which tunnels they could use to escape but had no way of getting to them.

Charlotte, the daughter of Apollo who'd originally been accompanying them, had made it back to Camp Jupiter safely purely because their enemy had wanted them to come looking for Frank and Hazel, Annabeth was sure of it. This entire thing was too well thought out and planned for her escape to have been a coincidence.

But what did Lycaon want? What made this pack of werewolves more desirable than others?

Something Stiles had said when they were in the reserve had been bugging her ever since. _"We're near the Nemeton… a beacon for things that would like to hurt us."_

She didn't recall anything about a Nemeton in ancient Greek or Roman lore, but, if the recent developments with her cousin Magnus were anything to go by, there was still plenty of mythological material out there to surprise her.

Lydia had felt strange being near the Nemeton, and Allison and Scott had looked outright terrified when Stiles had pointed out how close they were to it. Whatever magical properties that tree stump had, they weren't pleasant.

Agitated, Annabeth sighed and shifted on the couch, dropping her arm over the side and letting her hand graze the floor. Almost immediately, she felt Percy's fingers fill the spaces between her own.

"Are you awake?" she whispered, tilting her head to peer over the edge of the couch.

In the darkness she could just make out one of Percy's eyes, glinting in the tiny bit of moonlight filtering through a gap in the curtains. "Can't sleep," he murmured, squeezing her hand.

"Neither. I can't stop thinking about what Lycaon's plan is."

There was silence for a few moments, where Percy just ran the pad of his thumb in soft circles against the back of Annabeth's palm, and then he sighed.

She rolled onto her side so she could lean down closer to him. "What is it?"

"I don't like it here," Percy said. Annabeth resisted the urge to press him for more information, knowing the conversation would be more productive if she just let him take his time and speak when he was ready. Sure enough, after a brief pause, he continued on, voice low. "Something's messing with my powers."

Annabeth propped herself up on her elbow. "What do you mean?"

"Getting everyone out of that cave shouldn't have taken so much effort." There was the sound of rustling sheets as he rolled onto his side, and his hold on her hand loosened briefly before tightening again.

His sense of unease clawed its way from their linked hands up Annabeth's spine. She frowned. "There were a lot of people, and we were pretty deep underground -"

"I've done more than that before, you know I have." She could hear Percy's scowl in his voice.

"Yeah, but it was a stressful situation, you didn't have much time to prepare -"

He laughed so loud that she instinctively shushed him.

"When do I ever have time to prepare for shit like that?" he asked, in a slightly louder whisper than before. "It shouldn't have been enough to make me black out."

Annabeth didn't reply, because she knew he was right, and he knew it too.

She tugged on his arm until he got the hint and sat up so they were face to face. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips, finding them easily despite the dark, and when they parted she tugged him up onto the couch with her. He clambered up over the side and climbed on top of her, deliberately nuzzling his face into the side of her neck and tickling her ribs as he went.

"Percy!" She laughed and pushed at him, kicking gently at his legs. "Shh, Percy, stop, we have to -"

"I am being quiet," he whispered, filling in the end of her sentence. "I'm just trying to go to sleep and you're hogging the whole couch."

"If you'd get off me I could move over -"

"I'm not even on you, you're just… right in the way…" He huffed out a breath as she poked him in the ribs, tilting his head forward so that their foreheads were touching.

"I'll push you back onto the floor, don't think I won't." She squirmed into the back of the couch.

He breathed against her lips. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me, Seaweed Brain." She hoped that he could feel her smirk.

She could certainly feel his. "Oh, I'd love to -"

"Oh my god!"

Annabeth pushed at Percy's shoulders, but he was already moving on his own, jumping back onto his feet. The blanket that had been between them caught on his ankle and pooled on the floor, but he didn't stumble, pulling Riptide from the pocket of his pants and uncapping it in one swift movement.

The light flickered on and Annabeth spun around to see a shirtless Scott backed up against the wall, one hand splayed on the lightswitch and the other covering his eyes. His gray sweats were slung low on his hips. "Sorry, I didn't - I just wanted some water, I forgot you guys were here -"

Annabeth closed her eyes and exhaled. "Scott."

"Are you - Can I -?"

"We weren't doing anything," Percy said, recapping Riptide. "You can open your eyes."

"Didn't sound like you weren't doing anything…" Scott mumbled, but he lowered his arms anyway. "Sorry for scaring you. I couldn't sleep."

"Neither could we," Annabeth said, sweeping her tangled hair over her shoulder.

Scott nodded and stumbled over to the sink. "Do you want some water?"

"That'd be great, thanks," Percy replied.

Annabeth shifted up so that he could sit beside her, and Scott took the armchair opposite her after handing them each a glass. The atmosphere was sufficiently awkward, with two shirtless boys and Annabeth sitting in tense silence.

"So how's it work?" Scott eventually asked, gesturing at his drink. "The whole 'power over water' thing… Is it, like, all water?"

Percy shrugged one shoulder and took a long gulp of his drink. Some of the shadow lifted from under his eyes as he did so. "Yeah. Seawater's best, and the more polluted the water the less it'll work for me, but yeah."

Scott's eyes were still slightly glassy from exhaustion, but he looked pretty riveted. "So, like, even rain water? This tap water?"

Percy lifted a finger and the water in Scott's glass floated into the air, forming a perfect sphere. He spun the sphere in the air in front of Scott's eyes before having it pour like a miniature waterfall back into his cup.

"Whoa!" Scott exclaimed. "That's amazing!"

"Show off," Annabeth teased, knocking her knees into Percy's. He smiled at her, a little bashful.

Scott went to take a sip of his drink and then seemed to think twice about it. He cradled the cup in his hands and asked, "So today, when you got us out of there, you summoned that water from underground? Can all children of Poseidon do that?"

"Uh, well, there aren't any other demigod children of Poseidon at the moment, so I don't know, actually," Percy explained.

Scott gaped. "You're the only child of Poseidon?"

"Only _demigod_ child of Poseidon," Percy corrected. "I have a brother who's a cyclops -"

"A cyclops!"

"And some other half-siblings who I'd rather not think about… it gets sort of weird…"

Scott turned to Annabeth. "What about you, are you the only demigod child of Athena?"

Annabeth laughed. "No, definitely not. I have plenty of brothers and sisters."

"She's the best of the bunch, though," Percy said.

She ducked her head, hiding her smile. "You're biased."

When she looked back to Scott, he was watching them with a soft smile, almost like he was reminiscing.

She straightened her spine and cleared her throat. "So, Scott, you said you couldn't sleep - Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just… I can't help worrying about why Lycaon chose Beacon Hills." He sighed and ran a hand down his face.

"We'll make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else," Percy said immediately.

"I know we're going to try, but Derek seems pretty worried about it, and from what you guys have said it seems like we're in real trouble. I don't know if the pack's ready to fight another enemy like this…" Scott lowered his voice and dropped his gaze, hands curling tightly around his cup. "I don't know if I'm ready to lead them in a fight against an enemy like this."

Annabeth tilted her head to the side, intrigued. "You haven't been Alpha for very long?"

"Just a few weeks." Scott huffed out a humourless laugh. "I don't know the first thing about being an Alpha. Derek's here to help, of course, but ultimately I know it all comes down to me now. Everyone's going to follow my lead."

"Based on your actions today, it's a good lead to follow," Percy said sincerely.

"I didn't do anything today, that was all you guys -"

"We wouldn't have gotten Frank and Hazel back without your help," Percy insisted. "You did a lot for us today, and we really appreciate it."

Scott ducked his head and smiled shyly. "Thanks."

Annabeth tossed her empty cup back and forth between her hands. "Do you think the Nemeton has anything to do with why Lycaon's here?"

Scott's head whipped up, and his soft brown eyes were wide. "It could be - The Nemeton, it's… it's sort of just been woken up. _We_ woke it up. There was this Druid, she had our parents, we had to do this ritual to figure out where they were -"

"Who's _we_?" Annabeth asked.

"Me, Allison, Stiles." Scott ran a hand through his hair. "Deaton said that there'd be side effects…"

Scott's shoulders slumped forward. He looked small and sad, head bowed and limbs curled in.

"Whatever's going on with Lycaon, it's not your fault," Percy said softly.

Scott looked up, locking gazes with him. Something unsaid passed between the two boys, and then Scott smiled a lopsided smile that was scarily familiar.

"What in God's name are you all doing awake?" Melissa appeared in the doorway, hands on hips. "I know that there's a new supernatural threat in town but that doesn't mean you don't have school in the morning, Scott."

"Aw, mom!" he whined, tossing his head back.

"We do, too," Percy said, stretching and cracking his back. "We should try to get some sleep."

Annabeth frowned. "What? Why do we have school?"

Percy looked at her like it was obvious. "Because Frank and Hazel need to rest, which means they can keep an eye on things here, and we need to stay close to Scott and the rest of the pack."

It was obvious.

Annabeth swore in Ancient Greek while Scott laughed.

Percy smirked. "I want you to remember this, Scott. That's Annabeth speak for 'You're right, Percy, wow you're so smart, why didn't I think of that first?'"

Annabeth scowled. "Shut up, Seaweed Brain."

He laughed and tugged the blanket out from under her hips.

Melissa smiled, a little exasperated and a lot fond. It was the sort of smile that Sally often wore. "Goodnight, you two. I'll wake you up at the same time as Scott."

"I can't believe you're making me go to school," Scott whined as he trailed after Melissa, dropping their cups in the sink on the way. "I have to protect the town."

"You can protect the town outside of school hours," Melissa said.

Percy chuckled as he switched the light off. "Am I back on the air mattress?"

"Get over here." Annabeth held her arms out to him, smiling as he settled onto the couch with her. "Just try not to drool in my hair."

"Oh, _one time_."


	11. Lydia II

**a.n. i'm so, so sorry this took so long.**

* * *

Lydia didn't want to go to school. She didn't _have_ to go to school. She was far enough ahead that she wouldn't have to make up for any missed content, and, unlike Scott and Stiles, her attendance wasn't yet in the red. So, technically, she could stay home and research Lycaon and his abilities and start working out a plan to protect Scott.

The thing with protecting Scott, though, was that it was sort of Stiles's thing. And even though she'd never admit it out loud, she and Stiles seemed to work quite well together when it came to forming plans for anything pack related. And there was no doubt that the Sheriff would be forcing Stiles to go to school, so if Lydia wanted to see him she was going to have to go to school too.

To figure out a plan, of course.

Not just because she wanted to see Stiles, or anything. That was ridiculous. She would never.

She swiped on a final coat of red lipstick, pressing her lips together firmly and frowning at her reflection. Now was not the time to start getting sentimental. They were on the brink of something big and dangerous, and she needed to stay focused.

She needed to figure out how much Lycaon knew about Scott and the pack, the extent of his powers, what he had planned for Scott -

The obnoxious beep of a car horn broke her train of thought. Lydia rolled her eyes as she slipped into her heels, wondering which idiot wasn't ready for their ride and was inconveniencing the whole neighbourhood.

And then the horn sounded again, followed immediately by a knock on her bedroom door.

Her mom was standing in the doorway, fingers curled over the edge of the door. "Lydia, honey, Allison's here to take you to school."

Lydia blinked. "Allison?"

"She's downstairs," her mom said.

"Yes, of course." Lydia composed herself instantly, smiling brightly and hiding all traces of surprise. "Right. Let me just - grab my bag."

Her mom smiled and pulled the door to behind herself. Lydia shot to her feet and marched over to the window, wrenching back the curtain to glare down at Allison's car on the street below. As she'd suspected, Isaac Lahey sat in the front passenger seat, leant over the centre console with his hand on the horn.

"Oh, that little -"

"Lydia!" Allison called from downstairs.

With one last glare outside, Lydia straightened her curtains and ran to meet her friend.

Allison of course looked beautiful and bashful, waiting at the foot of the stairs. "Sorry," she said as soon as she saw Lydia, "I told Isaac we'd just be a second, but he's impatient."

Lydia hummed disapprovingly. She stepped off the stairs, looped her arm through Allison's and swept her out the front door in one smooth movement. "Did he stay the night?"

Allison balked. "What?"

Lydia was unperturbed. "At your house. I mean, it's pretty early, and you don't normally give Isaac a ride to school -"

"No, I - No, that's not what -" Allison's cheeks flushed a beautiful pink hue as she shook her head. "No, Scott asked me to pick him up."

Now _that_ was interesting. Lydia quirked an eyebrow. "Scott asked you to pick Isaac up? From Scott's house?"

"Yeah, well, Percy and Annabeth stayed there last night and they're coming to school today, and obviously they couldn't all go on Scott's bike, so Stiles came to get them but they wouldn't all fit in the Jeep so…" She trailed off, shrugging her shoulders.

"So why are you here?"

"Stiles suggested it. He said none of us should be alone at the moment. I thought he'd messaged you about it?"

"No," Lydia murmured, keeping her expression carefully neutral. "No, he hasn't messaged me."

Allison raised an eyebrow at her but, thankfully, they reached the car and she was spared from any more discussion. She slipped her arm free to open up the back door of the car, leaving Allison to slide into the driver's seat. Isaac turned his head to watch her as she sat down, clenching his hands over his knees.

"Good morning, Isaac," Lydia greeted, smiling demurely as he craned his neck around to look at her.

"We're going to be late," he said in reply.

Lydia fluffed her hair out and grinned. "Not with the way Allison drives."

* * *

Scott and Stiles were waiting for her in English. As soon as she walked in and took her usual seat at the desk beside Stiles they swivelled in their seats to face her.

"So?" Stiles asked, tapping his fingers on his desk.

"Good morning, Stiles, Scott, how are you both?" she asked, straightening her books.

"Uh, good?" Scott answered, somewhat confused, while Stiles just rolled his eyes and huffed.

"I didn't find anything helpful," she said, to put him out of his misery. "Not yet, anyway. I'm still looking, there has to be something in the beastiary that can help us."

Their faces fell, and Lydia's chest constricted. She wasn't used to this feeling, of letting people down. She hoped that it never became a frequent enough occurrence for her to become used to it.

Before she could reassure them again that she _was_ going to find something, Percy and Annabeth entered the room, timetables in hand. They looked tired, but otherwise gorgeous. There must have been something about demigod genes that made you exceptionally attractive, Lydia reasoned, because there was no way that sixteen year olds could have skin that clear and features that symmetrical without godly intervention.

"Hey," Percy said, waving a hand as he sat down behind her.

"Hi," she said, sitting up a little straighter and making eye contact with Annabeth.

Annabeth eyed her warily from the seat behind Stiles and said nothing.

Not one to back down from a challenge, Lydia addressed her directly. "Did you get any more information last night?"

Annabeth tilted her head on the slightest angle, nearly imperceptible. "Nothing new," she said flatly. She pulled a pen from her pencil case without looking and tapped it against her desk.

"We were talking though," Percy said, leaning forward over his desk and dropping his voice low. They all leaned in closer to him to hear him better. "Can you tell us more about the Nemeton?"

Lydia glanced quickly at Stiles, who swallowed thickly. "It's old and evil and tried to kill us all, what more do you wanna know?"

" _How_ , for starters," Annabeth said. "Is it a conscious nature spirit, is it a portal, is it cursed?"

"Okay, so there's a lot more to know." Stiles slouched back in his seat, one arm draped over the back. "Do you think the Nemeton brought Lycaon here?"

Annabeth narrowed her eyes as someone slid into the seat beside her. They took one look at her before getting up and moving to another desk. She never stopped drumming her pencil.

"We can't talk about this now. We don't know who's listening." Even though his words were serious, Percy was obviously trying to stifle a laugh.

"I'll take you to Deaton tonight," Scott said. At Percy and Annabeth's blank looks, he elaborated. "He knows all about this stuff."

"Is he your mentor?" Annabeth asked.

Scott smiled. "He's my boss."

With perfect timing, their teacher chose that moment to begin the lesson. Lydia turned around in her seat, uncomfortably aware of Annabeth watching her.

She tried to focus on the analysis of Poe's _The Raven_ they were meant to be doing, but all she could think of whenever she read the poem was the flock of birds that had swarmed the classroom back when this mess with the Nemeton and the Druids and that traitorous bitch Julia had just started. She remembered how Stiles had thrown himself over her to protect her from the crazed birds, how scared she'd felt, and how naive she'd been about how much worse things were going to get.

She thought about the way Percy and Annabeth were constantly watching each other's backs, how they'd faced down those monsters the other day as if they did it all the time, how their eyes had darkened when Hazel had mentioned a war, and she wondered how much worse things were going to get.

"Miss Martin," the teacher said, in a tone that suggested it wasn't the first time.

Lydia snapped to attention, sitting up straight and looking at the questions scrawled on the board with wide eyes. She had no idea what she was supposed to say.

"Uh." She stalled for time. "Well…"

"Allusion to Roman mythology," Annabeth whispered behind her.

Lydia had no choice but to take her word for it. Without looking back, she said, "It's an allusion to Roman mythology."

The teacher looked impressed, but obviously wasn't satisfied. "Do you care to expand on that?"

"Plutonian," Annabeth whispered again.

Lydia quickly glanced over the lines written on the board, finding the phrase ' _Night's Plutonian shore!'_

"Pluto's the Roman god of the afterlife," Lydia began, gaining confidence as she spoke. "Metaphorically, he's associated with things that are dark. The line is a play on this, referring both to the darkness of literal night and the darkness of the narrator's despair at the death of Lenore."

"Very good, thank you, Lydia."

Lydia exhaled as the teacher turned her attention back to the wider class. She pushed her hair back off her forehead and shook her head at Scott and Stiles, who were wearing identical expressions of concern.

When the lesson transitioned to individual writing time, she turned slightly in her seat and reached over to Annabeth's desk. "Thanks."

Annabeth smiled. "No problem."

"You got lucky with the topic on that one," Percy said, twirling his pen between his fingers. "Good ol' Death Breath."

It was so weird to hear them talk about a god as if he was a real person, so casually, like they personally knew him… Maybe they did?

Annabeth scoffed. "Please don't call him that. And I may hate English, Percy, but everyone knows the basics of The Raven."

"Because of that Halloween episode of The Simpsons, right?"

Annabeth was barely able to catch her laugh and turn it into an exasperated sigh, which made Percy grin, and Lydia smiled at the two of them.

"What were you doing, anyway? You looked out of it," Scott said.

"I was just thinking…" Lydia looked down to her notebook, sitting open on her desk, and her stomach plummeted. "Oh, no."

No, _no,_ this wasn't happening, not again -

"Lydia." Stiles was instantly there, up out of his seat and crouching beside her, one hand splayed on her back and the other on her desk, on top of her notebook. She tore her gaze away from the page and saw that he looked as worried as she felt.

"What is it?" Scott asked, leaning over Stiles's shoulder.

It was a tree. A drawing of a huge tree, outlined in stark black, covering her entire page.

"It's not the Nemeton," Stiles said, twisting the page upside down and then back the other way.

Annabeth and Percy's chairs scraped against the ground as they pushed them back, leaning over their desks to get a better view, and Lydia tensed because this was bad, there was no way this wasn't bad and everyone was crowded around her and the teacher was definitely going to yell at them all to sit down any second now -

"It's not the Nemeton," Stiles repeated, as if that made everything okay.

"No." Annabeth sounded horrified. "It's Thalia's Tree."


End file.
